The markets bounce is continuing in Tokyo where the Nikkei is up 1.1% on Thursday morning. That’s not quite the bounce that we saw on Wall Street where the Dow surged 4.53%, the S&P 500 gained 4.22% and the Nasdaq rose 3.85%. But it will give investorts some cheer.
That’s it for the day on this blog but you can follow what happens with the virus story and the markets with a new blog that my colleague Helen Sullivan has just launched to take us through the next 24 hours or so. You can read that here:
Still with the airline industry and Reuters reports that Donald Trump met executives from some of America’s leading airlines to discuss the coronavirus outbreak.
The airline bosses told the president they have stepped up procedures to keep planes “clean and disinfected” amid concerns about the the spread of the virus.
Executives from Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue, among others, attended the meeting at the White House with Trump, vice president Mike Pence and other officials.
Trump said airlines would be affected by the fall in international travel related to the virus.
“It’s affecting the airline business, as it would. And a lot of people are staying in our country and they’re shopping and using our hotels in this country, so from that standpoint I think probably there’s a positive impact, but there’s also an impact on overseas travel which will be fairly substantial,” Trump said.
The airline executives said the industry was taking measures to intensify aircraft sanitation.
“We’ve stepped up our efforts to make sure the airplanes are clean and disinfected,” said Southwest Airlines boss Gary Kelly.
Flybe will collapse 'within hours' – report
The struggling airline Flybe is set to collapse within hours, according to the Press Association.
We reported earlier that the regional carrier, which narrowly avoided going bust in January, was on the brink of bankruptcy again thanks to a drop in demand caused by the coronavirus.
But an airline source has told PA that it is expected to enter administration overnight after talks on Wednesday failed to secure a rescue package.
Here’s our story from transport correspondent Gwyn Topham:
Summary
Here’s a summary of the most recent developments:
- It was confirmed that two more people had died in the USA, bringing the total there to 11. They included the first person from outside Washington state to die, as well as another person within Washington.
- There was further deaths and cases in other nations across the world. Local authorities in Iraq said two people had died. In Stockholm, officials said 16 new cases had been identified, taking the Swedish total to 52 and Algerian authorities said 16 members of the same family had now tested positive. Other nations, including Slovenia and Hungary, identified their first cases.
- Sporting events in Italy are to be held behind closed doors for a month, the local government ordered. The events will include England’s Six Nations match against Italy and a host of Serie A games. All events inside the “red zone” are cancelled altogether.
- Two recent patients at Kings College hospital, in south London, tested positive. The hospital was not allowing visitors on to the wards where the patients were being treated, the Guardian understands.
- A British woman was among two more confirmed cases in Senegal, local authorities said. The nation’s health ministry identified her as a 33-year-old from London who arrived in Senegal on 24 February.
- A family of four in Ireland tested positive, bringing the number of confirmed cases on the island to nine. They included six cases in the Republic of Ireland and three in Northern Ireland.
Updated
Australia records first case in Northern Territory
A tourist in Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory has tested positive for coronavirus. It is the first confirmed case in the territory, which contains hundreds of remote communities.
The 52-year-old man carrying the virus is in isolation in Royal Darwin Hospital.
The man recently arrived in Darwin from Sydney and has had limited contact with the local community, NT Health said in a statement.
The department was undertaking contact tracing and would reach out to those who may have been in contact with the man, the statement said.
Markets rally extends to Australia
Stock markets have continued to rally at the opening of Thursday’s trrading session in Asia Pacific.
The Australian benchmark ASX200 index is up almost 2% this morning after losing more than 10% from its all-time highs in the past 10 days.
Movers and shakers on the ASX 200 in early trade. Note the 10th worst performer is the ASX which has risen 0.1% despite trading ex-dividend. That kind of day, so far #ausbiz $XJO pic.twitter.com/z8E6S97TjN
— David Scutt (@Scutty) March 4, 2020
All sectors were up but tech shares led the way with a rise of 3%. and follows a strong shjowing on Wall Street in Wednesday’s session.
Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets in Sydney said a number of factors were behind the big lift and that it was not just theresult of the US Fed’s rate cut on Tuesday.
A Congressional spending package, the rise of Joe Biden and stronger than forecast data lifted US optimism and sent stocks soaring. Major share indices leapt 4% overnight. Bonds sold off, gold prices eased and industrial commodities lifted. The US dollar rose against the yen and euro, but commodity currencies lifted further. Asia Pacific futures markets indicate the optimism will flow into today’s trading.
Updated
Saudi Arabia has identified a new case, its health ministry has announced in a statement published by the state news agency.
The kingdom said the person in question was travelling with another already known to have been infected and that both had come from Iran via Bahrain; a fact the second person had not initially disclosed.
The ministry confirmed the new case is quarantined in hospital and that everyone who interacted with him has been tested, though no results have yet been obtained.
Two recent hospital patients in London test positive
Kings College hospital has confirmed that two recent patients have tested positive. A spokesman for the south London hospital has said:
The trust has had two recent patients who have tested positive for Covid-19. We have strict protocols in place to manage the control of infection and to reduce the possibility of cross-infection, and this includes restricting access for staff and visitors to the ward.
Public Health England experts are carrying out contact tracing and will be in touch with individuals who may have been exposed to the virus to provide them with advice.
For anyone who has symptoms of coronavirus, call 111 or visit here as the first port of call.
The two patients at Kings College hospital are among the 87 already confirmed cases in the UK – not additional to them.
Updated
A generally available coronavirus vaccine is unlikely to be available within the next 12 months, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser has said. Discussing the timeframe and feasibility of making such available to everyone in the country on this evening’s edition of ITV’s Peston programme, Sir Patrick Vallance says:
I think a vaccine that can be used generally, we’d be very lucky to get one within a year ... Clearly, what you’d tend to do with a vaccine if you’ve got an effective vaccine – and there’s a whole question about how much of it you can manufacture and how much you can make available – but what you tend to do is protect the most vulnerable first and then grow it as you need to. And the same principle’s taken with influenza vaccination.
Asked if he feels it’s time to move from the containment phase to the delay phase on managing the spread, Vallance says:
This is clearly a global thing, it’s not unique to the UK and, therefore, part of this is when the World Health Organisation decides that it moved from contain to delay because that should ideally be a global response.
Failing that, we’re keeping an eye on when we think we do reach that stage and we’ll make that decision, ideally with other countries as well.
As we reported earlier, Vallance is due to advise UK government minsters on their response on Thursday.
Peston is due to air at 10.45pm GMT and is broadcast live on Twitter shortly beforehand.
The US House of Representatives has approved an $8.3bn (£7.3bn) funding bill to combat the spread of coronavirus, sending the emergency legislation to the Senate.
The measure, which passed by 415 votes to two, funds a series of US government-sponsored initiatives, including expanded testing for the virus that has infected at least 129 people in the nation.
The Senate is expected to take up the bill quickly and send it to the US president, Donald Trump, to be signed into law this week.
Iraq has seen its second coronavirus death, the country’s health ministry has said in a statement published by the state news agency. It added that the patient lived in Baghdad and suffered from other chronic conditions.
Slovenia has confirmed its first case of coronavirus, the local health ministry says.
The patient travelled to the country from Morocco, through neighbouring Italy, and is now in a Ljubljana hospital, the Slovenian national news agency STA reported. So far, Slovenia has performed 352 coronavirus tests.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which is chaired by Sir Patrick Vallance, is due to meet on Thursday.
The group provides scientific and technical recommendations to government, though Whitehall sources have stressed to the Press Association that the decision on whether or not to change from the contain to the delay phase in dealing with coronavirus would rest with ministers.
Irish family tests positive
A family of four in the Republic of Ireland has tested positive for coronavirus, raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to six and the number on the island of Ireland to nine.
The two males and two females, who live in the west of Ireland, were all “associated” with recent travel to northern Italy, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has announced.
Two cases were confirmed in Northern Ireland earlier on Wednesday, raising the number of confirmed cases there to three.
Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer with Ireland’s department of health, said there was still no evidence of widespread or sustained community transmission in the country, as seen elsewhere in the EU.
While we now have six confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, we continue our containment efforts, central to which is that the public know what to do in the event they have symptoms.
Paul Reid, the head of its Health Service Executive, said it was still in a containment phase but planning for all eventualities.
From what we are learning however as we see how the virus spreads in countries across Europe and in the UK we are facing a potentially unprecedented situation in this country and across all of our health services.
A worker at Google’s European headquarters in Dublin who had flu-like symptoms tested negative for coronavirus, prompting the tech giant to tell staff they can safely return to the office after two days of working from home.
Updated
British woman among new cases in Senegal – local authorities
Senegalese authorities have reported two new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to four since the first case was confirmed there on Monday, Reuters reports.
The nation’s health ministry have identified one of the patients as a 33-year-old British woman from London who arrived in Senegal on 24 February.
The ministry said the other is the 68-year-old wife of the 80-year-old Frenchman from a Paris suburb whose case was confirmed on Wednesday. The couple arrived in Senegal on 29 February. Both new patients are in stable condition at a hospital in Dakar and the two earlier patients’ conditions are “evolving favourably”, it said.
Senegal is the only sub-Saharan African country besides Nigeria to have confirmed cases of the virus. Experts say it is not yet clear why sub-Saharan African countries have registered so few cases of the virus, which could challenge fragile health systems on the continent.
Confirmed: Italian sporting events to be restricted
All professional football matches and other big sporting events are to be held behind closed doors until 3 April due to the outbreak, the Italian sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora has said.
The behind-closed-doors order does not apply to fixtures within the “red zone”, which are suspended.*
On Tuesday, the Juventus and Milan’s Italian Cup semi-final second leg match was 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.
Authorities have also announced the postponement of the other semi-final second leg between Napoli and Inter Milan.
The upcoming derby d’Italia, the name given to a match contested by Inter and Juve, is set to be played on Sunday or Monday. In the regions worst hit by the emergency, such as Lombardy, theatres and cinemas will also remain closed.
*We originally reported such fixtures would go ahead behind closed doors. This post has been amended to reflect that they will not.
Updated
Two more deaths in USA
Washington state, the hardest-hit in the union thus far, has confirmed the death of another person, taking the toll there from nine to 10, while the first death outside that state has also been announced.
According to Reuters, the local health agency in Placer County, in California, has said a resident has died. That is alongside those in the greater Seattle area, which has also seen 12 new cases; taking the total there to 39, the local department of health has said.
Updated
This is now backed up by a report in the Gazzetta di Parma newspaper. It says a draft order will go even further and decree that all sporting events in the “red zone” will be cancelled altogether, while those outside it will be played behind closed doors.
It appears all sporting events in Italy will become behind-closed-doors fixtures for 30 days, until 3 April. Besides numerous rounds of domestic professional football fixtures, that would also cover the Italy v England Six Nations match a week on Saturday (14 March), though this has not yet been confirmed.
Official: new COVID decree measures here in Italy. All sports events - also Serie A - can only be done behind closed doors for 30 days. No more fans in the stadiums. The measures will be effective until April 3. 🔴🇮🇹
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 4, 2020
Updated
The number of cases in Algeria has increased by nine to 17, the country’s health ministry has said. They include 16 from the same family in the Blida province, about 30km south of the capital Algiers, as well as an Italian man.
Updated
Sixteen new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Stockholm, according to local authorities, taking the total number of cases in Sweden to 52. Region Stockholm said:
Sixteen additional patients were found infected with Covid-19 ... The infected patients are being cared for in isolation to reduce the risk of further transmission.
The causes of four of the 31 confirmed cases in the Stockholm region remain under investigation, as – unlike the rest of the cases – no clear link to infection abroad or contact with people who had been infected abroad was found, the authority said.
Updated
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has confirmed the nation’s first two cases, saying each involves an Iranian student. Writing on his Facebook page, he said:
We have the first infected individual, or rather two right away, whom we had to hospitalise. They have no symptoms yet but the fact of the infection has been confirmed.
Iran has been one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus outside China.
According to Reuters, the students had travelled home for the Iranian new year, and one of them reported for a health check once back in Hungary to make sure he was not infected, Janos Szlavik, the head of the national institute for infectious diseases, said. Szlavik declined to say which school the students attend.
The wife of one of the students and the girlfriend of the other were isolated, he said, adding that Hungary was assessing their movements before the diagnosis and any risk of further contagion.
Updated
Iraq has announced its first coronavirus death. The country’s health ministry said the person died in the capital, Baghdad, according to the Reuters news agency.
France now has 285 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the head of the public health service, Jérôme Salomon, has said, which is an increase of 73 compared to a day earlier. During a press briefing, he added that the death toll was still at four people and that 15 were in intensive care.
Updated
The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have discussed the coronavirus outbreak on Wednesday, Downing Street said. A spokeswoman said:
They discussed the coronavirus epidemic and the prime minister updated the president on the UK’s four-strand approach to contain the virus, delay its spread, research its origins and cure and mitigate the impact should the virus become more widespread.
The two leaders agreed to work together on an international response to combat the spread of coronavirus.
Updated
The people who have tested positive in Northern Ireland did not travel through the Republic, the latter’s chief medical officer believes. Two new cases have been confirmed north of the border, bringing the total there to three and the number in the UK to 87.
Perhaps more pertinently, it brings the number on the island to five. Speaking at a press briefing in Dublin, Tony Holohan said:
The contact tracing process has only begun. We have not been alerted to any cross-border aspect in terms of that contact tracing. It is still quite early in the contact tracing process so it is still possible, but there are no indications as of yet.
He added that there was no reason to cancel the St Patrick’s Day parade due to take place in the Irish capital.
As things stand and on the basis of our assessment, we see no implications for the St Patrick’s Day parade.
Summary of latest developments
• The Italian government has ordered the closure of all schools and universities until 15 March as it grapples to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus that has claimed 107 lives, an increase of 28 in 24 hours.
“We are focussed on taking all measures for direct containment or delaying the spread of the virus,” the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said during a press conference on Wednesday. “The health system risks going into overload, and we will have a problem with intensive care if an exponential crisis continues.”
• The number of coronavirus cases in the UK has jumped by more than 60% to 87 cases, in the biggest daily increase recorded to date.
They include three who contracted the disease without travelling abroad, confirming fears that community transmission is already occurring in the UK and that attempts to contain the virus have at least partly failed.
• The coronavirus outbreak has led India to restrict the export of dozens of drugs including paracetamol and various antibiotics, leading to fears of a global shortage of essential medicines.
On Tuesday, concerns over supply chain shortages led the Indian government to place limits on the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the medicines and vitamins made from them.
• Fears of a coronavirus-driven global economic slowdown have mounted after stock markets gave a lukewarm reaction to the emergency cut in US interest rates and new data showed that China and Hong Kong came to a virtual standstill in February.
As the World Health Organization warned that panic buying and market manipulation was “rapidly depleting” supplies of protective equipment, world leaders and central banks continued their scramble to cushion the economic impact of the outbreak.
• Schools and universities are being closed and concerts, conferences and sporting events cancelled around the globe.
Cancelled events have included the London Book Fair, while MGM Universal has announced the postponement of the release of the new James Bond film, No Time to Die.
Updated
The organisers of Britain’s Cheltenham Festival expect the number of people attending the showcase horse racing event to be down this year because of concerns over the coronavirus.
A record-breaking 266,000 people attended the four-day event in Gloucestershire last year but the Jockey Club, which runs the event, said ticket sales were slowing.
The festival is bringing in a raft of measures to try to keep racegoers healthy including increasing the number of toilets and hand-washing stations.
But any significant reduction in crowds would be a huge blow to Cheltenham and surrounding areas, which rely on the festival for a multi-million pound boost each year.
Ian Renton, regional director for the Jockey Club, said the festival, which is due to begin on Tuesday, had taken part in numerous discussions over the past week with both the government and the racing industry.
He said: “We’re pleased to hear the messages the government has put out suggesting there will be no immediate change to business as usual.
“On that basis we’re proceeding and looking forward to a great festival and are taking steps to make sure we have got systems in place to make sure hygiene is at its maximum.”
The festival is setting up additional toilets and hand-washing facilities and extra staff will operate in all toilet areas to ensure that soap and drying facilities are constantly available.
Updated
The release of the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, will be postponed until November 2020, MGM Universal have announced.
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020. pic.twitter.com/a9h1RP5OKd
— James Bond (@007) March 4, 2020
Updated
Italian schools and universities to close from 5 March to 15 March
Schools and universities in Italy will close from Thursday until 15 March, Italian authorities have announced.
Updated
Italian coronavirus deaths rise from 79 to 109
The number of confirmed deaths of patients who tested positive for coronavirus in Italy has risen to 107 from 79, Italian authorities have said.
The number of confirmed cases in Italy is more than 3,000.
As we reported earlier, Italy’s government is set to close cinemas and theatres and ban public events across the whole country to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak, according to a draft decree drawn up on Wednesday.
The decree, seen by Reuters, orders “the suspension of events of any nature... that entail the concentration of people and do not allow for a safety distance of at least one metre (yard) to be respected.”
The Italian education minister, Lucia Azzolina, has said that the decision to close schools and universities across the country until mid-March - reported by the Italian news agency Ansa and several local outlets - has not yet been taken but will be decided “in the next few hours”.
Health authorities and the energy company EDF are attempting to trace people who may have been in contact with a worker based in south-west England who tested positive for the coronavirus after returning to China.
The 35-year-old Chinese national, who has been based in Somerset, left the UK after concluding a placement with the energy firm.
He developed symptoms of Covid-19 two days later and was confirmed to have the virus on 1 March.
Public Health England said: “Authorities in China report that the person did not have symptoms while in the UK, so the risk to other people in the UK is considered to be very low.”
It is understood that the man had been in the UK for a number of months before returning to China.
Information posted online by Chinese authorities said the man flew with Cathay Pacific from London to Hong Kong on 27 February.
He then took a ferry to China, at which time his temperature was normal, and then travelled in a taxi to his home in Futian district.
The man developed symptoms on 29 February and was taken to hospital, then placed in isolation.
He tested positive for Covid-19 at 12.40am on 1 March, Chinese authorities said.
Updated
A cross-party group of MPs has asked the British government to adopt a “flexible approach” to social security rules to ensure people on welfare benefits or low incomes are not penalised if they self-isolate in line with official coronavirus guidance and are unable to work or look for jobs.
The House of Commons Work and Pensions select committee said no one following public health advice should face an “invidious choice” between financial hardship and putting themselves and others at risk.
In a letter to the work and pensions secretary, Therese Coffey, the committee chair, Stephen Timms, wrote: “I hope you will agree that the exceptional circumstances of this outbreak necessitate a flexible response from the DWP. To contain the spread of the virus, it is vital that those required to self-isolate are not deterred from doing so due to the threat of sanctions or loss of income.”
People who claim unemployment benefit or low-paid workers who claim in-work benefits through universal credit are required to meet stringent requirements to access welfare payments, known as claimant commitments.
These include attending regular job centre meetings and providing proof they have been searching for jobs or seeking better-paid work.
Claimants who are deemed to have failed to meet those requirements can be subject to financial penalties including the suspension of welfare payments for between four weeks and six months.
Although the DWP says sanctions are applied as a last resort - and that claimants will not be penalised if they contact officials to explain why they cannot meet their claimant commitment - there is lots of evidence that the much-criticised sanctions have been applied capriciously or for trivial reasons, leaving claimants penniless and reliant on food banks.
Updated
In England, three cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Trafford, Manchester, and in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Trafford Council website said the three in its area were people who had travelled to northern Italy.
Two further positive cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Northern Ireland, including one adult who recently travelled from northern Italy.
The other had recent contact with a person elsewhere in the UK who has subsequently tested positive, health officials at the Northern Ireland Executive told the Press Association.
The results are being sent to England for verification.
Updated
As schools, universities and events are closed, cancelled and postponed around Europe, the Guardian’s John Henley has written this wrap.
It includes:
France
A total of 257 confirmed cases and four deaths. Thirteen regions affected. Four main clusters so far: Oise in northern France (64 cases), Haute-Savoie (19 cases) and four villages in the Morbihan in Brittany (12 cases); the fourth relates to a group of tourists who took part in an organised visit to Egypt (11 cases), while five members of the same family caught the virus after attending an evangelical church service at Mulhouse in eastern France.
Italy
By far the worst European outbreak: 2,502 confirmed cases so far and 79 deaths. The virus has spread to all but one of Italy’s 20 regions, with the majority of cases (1520) in Lombardy, followed by Emilia-Romagna (420) and Veneto (307). Most Italian regions have under 50 confirmed cases.
Updated
Two groups of Italian tourists were under quarantine in India today, with 16 testing positive for the coronavirus, prompting authorities to tighten controls.
Health minister Harsh Vardhan said that passengers on all international flights would now be screened, the AFP news agency reported.
Visitors from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan - except diplomats and officials from international bodies - were already barred, on Tuesday, along with those from China last month.
Vardhan said a husband and wife in the first Italian group - who arrived last month and number around 20 - fell ill while visiting the western state of Rajasthan, a popular tourist destination.
The remainder were moved to a quarantine centre in New Delhi, where 14 members plus their Indian driver were confirmed as being infected.
Updated
This seems to be emerging a bit of a trend. Footage has appeared showing Iranian health workers dancing and singing in an effort to keep morale up as the country faces the worst coronavirus outbreak outside China.
This was the scene in China meanwhile...
Videos of medical staff and #coronavirus patients square dancing together in several "shelter hospitals" in #Wuhan have gone viral on Chinese social media.
— Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) February 12, 2020
"Square dancing helps to cheer them up and improve their immunity, which is beneficial for their recovery." pic.twitter.com/Kpqsyqclkj
Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been running a live question and answer session online.
#AskWHO on #COVID19 vs flu. Ask your questions to our expert @SCBriand https://t.co/MgLf1qC5UW
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 4, 2020
Updated
The latest figures in the UK – where the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has jumped to 85 – do not suggest the country is past the stage where the containment approach is no longer valuable, according to a senior microbiology expert.
Prof Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, was speaking after authorities said the number of coronavirus cases in the UK had jumped by 60% to 85, the biggest daily increase recorded to date.
He said: “Today’s increase in numbers represents a three times greater increase in new cases per day than we’ve seen in the last few days. However, most are associated with known cases or have history of foreign travel.
“Three of the cases appear to have no such contacts – this is further evidence that the infection is spreading in the community.
“However, the latest case numbers do not suggest we are past the stage where the containment approach is no longer valuable. Even though the increase looks dramatic, it should not alter our strategy at the moment.”
Updated
While Britain’s Department of Health has said it will no longer tweet details of the locations of new coronavirus cases, some local authorities are doing so on what appears to be an ad hoc basis.
Two new cases are in Lancashire and Newcastle upon Tyne respectively. In both areas, details were provided in the form of video messages from health officials.
Two linked cases of #coronavirus have been confirmed in South Ribble, Lancashire.
— Lancashire County Council (@LancashireCC) March 4, 2020
The two people had recently travelled to Italy and are currently isolating themselves at home. Our Director of Public Health and Wellbeing Dr Sakthi Karunanithi explains more. 1 of 2.... pic.twitter.com/YVM5AEtfrq
Update: Derbyshire county council says two further cases were confirmed in its area, bringing the county total to three.
Updated
Twitter has said it will stop any attempt by advertisers to use the coronavirus outbreak to send inappropriate advertisements to its users.
Government entities seeking to spread public health information will be allowed to promote epidemic-related ads, the company said in a blog post.
It added that Twitter’s “global trust & safety team” was “continuing its zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and any other attempts to abuse our service at this critical juncture”.
It added: “At present, we’re not seeing significant coordinated platform manipulation efforts around these issues.
“However, we will remain vigilant and have invested substantially in our proactive abilities to ensure trends, search, and other common areas of the service are protected from malicious behaviours.”
Updated
Russia has been targeted from abroad by foes spreading fake news about the coronavirus to sow panic, according to President Vladimir Putin.
His remarks came as Russia’s communications regulator said it had shut down access to some social media posts containing falsehoods about the outbreak.
“The federal security service reports that they [the fakes] are mainly being organised from abroad. But unfortunately this always happens to us,” Putin said on Wednesday, in televised remarks at a government meeting.
“The purpose of such fakes is clear: to sow panic among the population.”
Reuters reports that a Russian cybersecurity company, Group-IB, on Monday identified what it said were thousands of fake news posts on messaging services and social networks such as Russia’s VK alleging that thousands of Muscovites had caught the virus.
Updated
Saudi Arabia has suspended the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage amid fears of the new coronavirus spreading to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, according to the country’s interior ministry.
The state had decided “to suspend umrah temporarily for citizens and residents in the kingdom”, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi press agency.
Updated
China’s ambassador to Ireland has urged Irish authorities to make a speedy decision on mass gatherings, the Irish Times reports.
While declining to say whether events such as St Patrick’s Day parades should be cancelled, He Xiangdong said: “The authorities here in Ireland need to take the very smart and quick and cautious, while at the same time reasonable decision in terms of that [mass gatherings].
“Our own experience is that [at] the early stage we needed to make some hard decisions in terms of if the mass gatherings needed to be held or not.”
The comments of the ambassador, speaking at a reception in Cork, come after the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said his government would not be advising the cancellation of St Patrick’s Day parades at this stage.
Prof John Oxford, a virologist from Queen Mary, University of London, has said it would not be the end of the world if the event, which draws hundreds of thousands of domestic and overseas visitors to Dublin, was cancelled or at the very least postponed.
“If I were in their shoes I would say ‘we must postpone it’, it’s not the end of the world for one year,” he told RTE Radio 1.
“After all the Chinese postponed the Chinese new year, which is immense.”
Updated
Global business travel – and airline profits – are in deep trouble from coronavirus if the evidence offered at London City airport on a weekday morning is indicative of the sector’s travails.
On Wednesday, the business travel-dominated airport in the shadow of Canary Wharf had as many check-in staff as there were passengers, with customers reporting a decline in demand from European hubs such as Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
The Guardian’s Joanna Partridge spoke to travellers at London City and has filed this report.
Updated
A man travelling through Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has been put in quarantine in a portable room on a fire department parking lot after testing positive for the new coronavirus.
The municipality of Haarlemmermeer, where Schiphol is located just outside the Dutch capital, set up six of the rooms last week as the virus began to spread across Europe.
“It’s a sort of portable container-like room with a door, window, toilet and shower,” said a spokeswoman for Haarlemmermeer, Petra Faber.
Updated
A Northern Ireland hospital is planning to send Covid-19 patients to England for treatment.
Antrim Area hospital is ready for drive-through testing for the virus and expects patients will receive results within four hours.
Dr Seamus O’Reilly, medical director for the Northern health and social care trust, said: “If the test comes back positive there is a very well-rehearsed process that we do in conjunction with our colleagues in England.”
Updated
Italian football authorities look set to order Serie A to play matches behind closed doors as the country struggles to control the coronavirus outbreak.
Following a series of postponements, including this week’s Coppa Italia semi-finals, Italian football is facing a backlog of fixtures as the virus spreads. This has prompted the head of the Italian FA to suggest playing matches without crowds is an increasing likelihood.
“We are heading towards that decision,” Vincenzo Spadafora told reporters when asked if the government was thinking of barring fans.
“We will continue all activities, and so will the league, but we will respect public health.”
Updated
The quarantined dog of a coronavirus patient in Hong Kong could be the first case of human-to-animal transmission, animal health experts in Hong Kong have said, although they cautioned that the matter remained under investigation.
The agriculture, fisheries and conservation department (AFCD) said a pet dog had repeatedly tested weak positive for the virus, which indicates a low level of infection.
The AFCD added in a statement that it first collected samples from the dog for tests on 26 February and detected low levels of Covid-19 virus from its nasal and oral cavity samples on 27 February.
Tests were repeated on 28 February and 2 March.
Updated
There are now six confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York state, including four new cases today, according to the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo.
The wife, son, daughter and neighbour of a coronavirus patient in Westchester have tested positive.
Updated
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York State, is giving a press conference. Follow live here:
Providing an update on the novel #Coronavirus in New York and making an announcement: https://t.co/2HJmom1o9s
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 4, 2020
Italy set to close cinemas and ban public events - draft decree
Italy’s government is set to close cinemas and theatres and ban public events across the whole country to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak, according to a draft decree drawn up on Wednesday.
The decree, seen by Reuters, orders “the suspension of events of any nature... that entail the concentration of people and do not allow for a safety distance of at least one metre (yard) to be respected.”
It also tells Italians to avoid hugging and shaking hands to prevent as much as possible a further spread of the potentially deadly illness which has been mainly concentrated in the country’s northern regions.
There was some confusion earlier when the Italian news agency Ansa said schools and universities were to close in Italy until mid-March as the country battles to control the coronavirus.
Italian education minister Lucia Azzolina said that the decision had not yet been taken but would be decided “in the next few hours”.
Updated
Global calls are mounting for restrictions to prevent the panic-buying of protective health equipment amid concern over shortages, as the World Health Organization called on governments and industry to increase production by 40% to help counter the spread of the coronavirus.
As France issued a decree to requisition masks for key health workers and those suffering from the disease, other countries warned that stocks of masks and other equipment were running low in some of the worst-affected locations, with suppliers unable to meet demand.
French health officials say around 8,300 masks and 1,200 bottles of sanitising health gel have been stolen from Paris hospitals. Another 2,000 surgery masks have disappeared from a hospital in Marseille. The French government said it would take legal measures to rein in the soaring price being demanded for bottles of hand gel.
Exacerbating the problem around the world is the fact that China, which has been worst-affected by the coronavirus, is the world’s biggest supplier of protective masks for medical use, producing half of the masks used around the globe.
Updated
India’s top pharmaceuticals export group has said that an Indian government curb on some drug exports as the coronavirus outbreak spreads has caused panic in Europe and will “severely impact” businesses in the sector.
The world’s main supplier of generic drugs has restricted the export of 26 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and the medicines made from them, in a move seen as aimed at tackling possible domestic shortages of medicine during the outbreak.
Dinesh Dua, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), told Reuters that some of the restricted APIs and medicines were widely exported to Europe and the United States.
“I am getting a huge number of calls from Europe because it is very sizeably dependent on Indian formulations and we control almost 26% of the European formulations in the generic space. So they are panicking,” Dua said.
Israel’s chief rabbi has advised Jews to forego the traditional touching of the “mezuzah”, a decorative case containing a small holy scroll that is attached to many doorposts in the country.
In an advisory published on Wednesday, the rabbi, David Lau, said there was no religious obligation to carry out the practice, and it was enough for Jews to reflect on the scroll’s message when entering or leaving a home.
The handwritten parchment contains the Biblical “Shema” prayer verse that declares: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.”
“During these days, when we are witness to the spread of a serious disease, there is no doubt that one should not kiss the mezuzah or touch it at all,” Lau wrote.
Slowing growth will hit poorest countries hardest, the World Bank president, David Malpass, has said, as the institution announced it was making $12bn available to provide immediate support to low-income countries dealing with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus.
Malpass added that the money would go to helping developing nations strengthen their health systems, which are fighting an epidemic that has already spread to more than 60 countries.
“The point is to move fast,” Malpass told reporters. “Speed is needed to save lives.”
Updated
EU officials in Brussels have been alerted to a second possible case of coronavirus infection within the bloc’s institutions.
Staff in the EU council have been advised that an unnamed colleague has fallen ill and “appropriate cleaning” was being undertaken in the relevant offices in Brussels.
Earlier in the day, the European Defence Agency confirmed that a member of staff had been diagnosed with the virus.
Updated
It appears that the virus has caused the the first cancellations by a major sport in the United States.
The Chicago State University men’s basketball team will not travel for two regularly scheduled Western Athletic Conference games this week, and its women’s team will not host two games.
The school said in a statement it was making the move with the “health and wellbeing of the campus community in mind”.
The university said the men’s team would not travel to Seattle University or Utah Valley University for Western Athletic Conference games on Thursday and Saturday.
The school also said the women’s team would not host Seattle or Utah Valley at the campus’ Jones Convocation Center on the same days
Updated
It looks like the (already troubled) British airline FlyBe risks becoming one of the first airlines to succumb to the turbulence being thrown up by the new coronavirus.
Sky News and ITV have both been reporting that it is warning that it is running out of funds.
Breaking: Flybe has told the government that it is running out of cash and will not survive until the end of the month. Airline has been hit by slump in bookings since COVID-19 outbreak. FlyBe says it needs a decision on its request for taxpayer loan of £100m “in the coming days”
— Joel Hills (@ITVJoel) March 4, 2020
Britain’s Department of Health added that it would no longer be tweeting information on the location of each new case from today, due to the number of new cases.
“Instead, this information will be released centrally in a consolidated format online, once a week. We are working on this now and plan to share on Friday.”
Updated
UK confirmed coronavirus cases jump by 34
The number of coronavirus cases in the UK has jumped by 34 in a day, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 85.
The Department for Health said the figures included 32 new patients in England.
The department added in a statement: “Twenty-nine patients were diagnosed who had recently travelled from recognised countries or from recognised clusters which were under investigation.
“Three additional patients contracted the virus in the UK and it is not yet clear whether they contracted it directly or indirectly from an individual who had recently returned from abroad. This is being investigated and contact tracing has begun.
“The total number of confirmed cases in England is now 80. Following previously reported confirmed cases in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, the total number of UK cases is 85.”
Updated
Health officials in France say around 8,300 masks and 1,200 bottles of sanitising health gel have been stolen from Paris hospitals.
Another 2,000 surgery masks have disappeared from a hospital in Marseilles.
The French government says it will take legal measures to rein in the soaring prices being demanded for bottles of hand gel.
Anyone wanting to buy masks from a pharmacy will have to get a medical prescription.
Updated
Lufthansa grounds 150 planes
The German airline Lufthansa has grounded 150 aircraft due to the coronavirus (as first reported by Reuters).
A spokeswoman told the Guardian that 125 of the grounded planes were continental and 25 were intercontinental.
Lufthansa has 752 aircraft according to its website so this amounts to approximately a fifth of its fleet.
Earlier, Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, pledged to look into reports that airlines were flying half empty planes around the world just to retain lucrative slots under international allocation rules after a drop in demand for air travel.
Updated
The Italian education minister, Lucia Azzolina, has said that the decision to close schools and universities across the country until mid-March - reported by the Italian news agency Ansa and several local outlets - has not yet been taken but will be decided “in the next few hours”.
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A 95-year-old woman who died in a Sydney hospital on Tuesday night has been confirmed to have had coronavirus, the second death from Covid-19 in Australia, according to Nine News Melbourne.
#BREAKING: A 95-year-old woman who died in a Sydney hospital on Tuesday night has been confirmed to have had #coronavirus – Australia's second death from the COVID-19 strain so far. #9News https://t.co/3OCNClLIs0
— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) March 4, 2020
Updated
Another person has tested positive for the coronavirus in England.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership said a person who was admitted to Wythenshawe hospital had tested positive for the coronavirus.
He said:
The hospital remains open and we would ask that people keep their appointments and attend unless they are unwell. Please note the risk from the virus for the majority of people is low.
The trust has strict protocols in place to manage the control of infection and to reduce the possibility of cross-infection.
Public Health England (PHE) experts were carrying out contact tracing and would be in touch with anyone who may have been exposed to the virus, the spokesman said.
The total number of known cases in the UK now stands at 54. It was 51 at the end of Tuesday (48 in England and one each in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) but two new cases were announced in Scotland earlier today. The daily update on total infections in the UK is expected at 2pm.
Updated
The Italian government had already shut schools and universities in the worst-affected regions in northern Italy some 10 days ago and quarantined towns at the centre of the outbreak. However, it has struggled to contain the virus, with more than 2,500 people infected.
Updated
All schools and universities are to close in Italy until mid-March as the country battles to control the coronavirus.
The Italian news agency ANSA says the decision was taken at a meeting by the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, with his cabinet.
There have been 79 deaths from Covid-19 in Italy, the third highest after China and Iran.
- Update: Italian Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said that the decision has not yet been taken but would be decided “in the next few hours”.
Updated
Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended Umrah pilgrimages to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina for Saudi citizens and the kingdom’s other residents due to coronavirus concerns, the state news agency SPA said today.
The kingdom had already closed its two holiest sites to foreign travellers.
Britain’s prime minister has pledged to look into reports that airlines are flying half empty planes around the world simply to secure lucrative slots under international allocation rules after a drop in demand for air travel.
Boris Johnson said he was unaware of it when a backbench Conservative MP, Paul Maynard, asked him if he knew that airlines were flying the planes due to “perverse incentives” for them not to lose the slots.
“Will he seek a derogation for the UK from these international rules, if only for the sake of the environment?” asked Maynard during questions in parliament.
Johnson replied: “I will look at it. It certainly seems crazy that planes should be flying simply to retain the slots to which they are entitled and we will see what we can do.”
Updated
Bill and Melinda Gates have paid for 15,000 medicinal molecules to be shipped to a leading laboratory in Belgium to be tested as a potential cure for the coronavirus.
The therapeutic samples, all active ingredients in current antiviral treatments, will be screened at high speed for their inhibiting effect on particles developed from a swab from the first Belgian patient to be diagnosed.
The molecules, from the Scripps research institute in California, will be shipped to the Rega Institute for Medical Research, in Leuven, 20 miles (32km) east of Brussels. The Scripps institute has an extensive collection of the active ingredients of existing or in-development drugs.
Updated
With Covid-19 now spanning at least 79 countries, with more than 3,100 deaths, the Guardian has produced these maps on how the virus is spreading
Updated
Brighton College, an independent day and boarding school in south-east England, is one of many schools borrowing from Hong Kong and Japan and preparing to switch to virtual learning for its pupils in the event of school closures, which it plans to trial next week.
Richard Cairns, Brighton College’s headmaster, has written to parents at the Sussex school:
Clearly, the prospect of any school closure is a matter of great concern for those approaching public examinations and for all of our pupils whose education would be disrupted.
As a consequence, we have for some time been exploring the use of online teaching and learning platforms for such an eventuality, drawing on the experience of schools in Hong Kong and Japan where schools have been closed for some time.
We are now confident that we have an appropriate and impressive educational platform that will enable us to offer a meaningful programme of lessons, marking and feedback. In consequence, I have decided that all the schools of Brighton College will have a training day on Friday 13 March.
There is no case of the coronavirus at Brighton College nor among anyone associated with it.
Updated
There is some confusion in Thailand over what quarantine measures are being introduced for people travelling from countries hit by the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, the country’s public health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, posted an order on his official Facebook page stating that people arriving from Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
But hours later the post disappeared, and the minister’s Facebook page appeared to have been deactivated. A ministry spokesperson said that a correction was being made and that an updated announcement would appear soon. This is yet to materialise.
This isn’t Anutin’s first comms slip-up. Last month, he caused controversy by stating that foreigners who refused to wear face masks should be kicked out of the country – a comment that contradicted health advice given elsewhere, and which many speculated was unhelpful given the country’s tourism crisis.
Thailand’s ministry of public health has since stated that it is only necessary to wear a mask if you are a healthcare worker or if you are sick.
Updated
Sony has sent staff at European offices, including London, home for the rest of the week. No cases have been detected but the move has been taken as a precaution.
The Scottish government has now released more information about the two further patients in Scotland have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases across the country to three.
One patient is resident in the Grampian area, the second patient is resident in the Ayrshire area.
One patient has recently travelled to northern Italy and the other has had contact with a known positive case – but the Scottish government added that this contact was not with the first positive case confirmed in Scotland, a Tayside resident.
Both patients are “currently clinically well and are receiving appropriate clinical care”.
There have been a total of 914 negative test results in Scotland since the start of the outbreak.
All 1,150 students at a high school in Israel, plus the members of an elementary school class in a different school, have been instructed by the government’s health ministry to self-quarantine at home.
The instructions come after a teenager and a 5th-grade teacher were diagnosed with the coronavirus, the Times of Israel reports.
Football fans who sat in a particular area at a Tel Aviv match last week have also been told to go into isolation.
UK workers to receive statutory sick pay from first day off work, not fourth, to help prevent virus spread
Plans are being brought forward to allow the payment of statutory sick pay from the very first day someone is sick instead of four days, Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has told MPs.
“I think that is the right thing. Nobody should be penalised for doing the right thing,” he told parliament, in answer to a question about people who are self-isolating at home.
Johnson was described by Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition, as “our part-time prime minister” after criticism that it had taken some time for Johnson to emerge before appearing to launch the government’s action plan on the virus.
The Labour leader said a decade of austerity under the Conservative government had put the UK in a difficult position to cope with the outbreak.
Boris Johnson said people who self-isolate are “helping to protect all of us by slowing the spread of the virus” in announcing sick pay changes as part of emergency coronavirus legislation.
“If they stay at home and if we ask people to self-isolate, they may lose out financially,” he told the House ofCommons.
“So, I can today announce that the Health Secretary will bring forward, as part of our emergency coronavirus legislation, measures to allow the payment of statutory sick pay from the very first day you are sick instead of four days under the current rules, and I think that’s the right way forward.”
Updated
The quarantining of cities and towns would be supported by 74% of people in the UK, according to a global poll by Ipsos Mori.
The survey asked if respondents would support preventing anyone from entering or leaving if there has been a large number of coronavirus cases there.
Of the countries included in the survey, Vietnam was most likely to agree (91%) while only three in five of those in Italy agree.
Q. Are you willing to accept quarantines of cities and towns to manage #coronavirus risk?
— Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) March 4, 2020
Agree:
Vietnam 91%
UK 74%
Italy 60% pic.twitter.com/OBvnYk9IU5
There has been a drop in Britons’ perceptions of how well the government is responding to the virus in the run-up to the announcement on Tuesday of the British government’s action plan.
When asked on 14-15 February, almost two-thirds of the UK public (63%) thought the government was doing a good job in containing the spread of the virus.
One week later this has dropped, with only half (50%) feeling the same way. In comparison, seven in 10 (70%) believe national health organisations in the UK are doing a good job.
Updated
First case of coronavirus at European Union offices
The first case of the new virus in European Union offices in Brussels has been announced. It appears to have been in the European Defence Agency (EDA), according to this report.
First case of #coronavirus in the EU institutions: the European Defence Agency has cancelled all meetings until 13 March after a senior official tested positive for #COVID_19, according to an internal mail seen by EURACTIV.@gerardofortuna reports.https://t.co/T8mHPm0u4A
— EURACTIV (@EURACTIV) March 4, 2020
Euractive says a source told it that a senior EDA official who contracted the virus had returned from a trip to Italy last week.
Afterwards, he had a meeting with around 30 officials from other EU institutions last week and started feeling sick on Saturday before testing positive for Covid-19.
A member of the military staff of the European External Action Service (EEAS) who attended the meeting has started experiencing symptoms and is waiting for the outcome of the test, the source added.
An EEAS source further said the other participants of the meeting have since held other meetings and/or travelled.
Updated
Ireland has recorded a second case of coronavirus but plans to go ahead with St Patrick’s Day festivities.
Health officials revealed the second case – a female in the east of the country who recently travelled from northern Italy – on Tuesday night. The infection is not related to the Dublin schoolboy who was diagnosed last weekend after he also visited northern Italy.
The foreign affairs ministry updated its travel advice to warn against non-essential travel to the Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna regions.
The chair of Ireland’s coronavirus advisory group, Cillian de Gascun, told RTE on Wednesday there was still no evidence of community transmission in Ireland. However, he said the situation was fluid and noted that two weeks ago Italy had only three cases and now had more than 2,000.
The chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, said the second infection was “not unexpected” and that Ireland remained in a containment phase. He said that “as things stand” the celebrations leading up to St Patrick’s Day on 17 March could go ahead.
Meanwhile, Google asked most staff at its European headquarters in Dublin to work from home for a second day pending an update on an employee who on Monday showed flu-like symptoms.
Updated
Public Health England has suggested it may recommend that people stop shaking hands “although we’re not there yet”.
Its emeritus medical director, Prof Paul Cosford, said:
We may get to a point where if we see more widespread infection we ask people to limit the social contact they have with each other.
This could include limiting everyday interaction, although we’re not there yet. What’s most important at the moment is that people practise good hand and respiratory hygiene and wash their hands frequently and thoroughly.
Our message is clear, simple handwashing with soap for 20 seconds is key to good hygiene and this will make a real difference in stopping this virus spread.
On Monday, when the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, extended her hand to her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, at a meeting on Monday, he refused her handshake and waved her away amid concerns about spread of Covid-19.
Updated
Plans to increase the increase the availability of specialist equipment to provide oxygen in anticipation of more people suffering from breathing difficulties are being made by health authorities in the UK.
There was confusion on Tuesday when the health minister, Matt Hancock, spoke about increasing the number of what he referred to as home ventilation kits, with doctors and medical professionals among those ridiculing or questioning what he meant.
Dear fellow 100%-prepared-for-coronavirus NHS colleagues; can anyone explain what a home ventilation kit is and how this "full plan" is gonna work? pic.twitter.com/c60fo3qdr7
— Pete Deveson (@PeteDeveson) March 3, 2020
It has emerged that Hancock was referring to the NHS Home Oxygen Therapy service, which provides ventilators or oxygen concentrators to people requiring respiratory aid.
Contingency planners are taking steps in anticipation of higher numbers of patients with breathing difficulties to increase the availability of the equipment so that doctors can have them as an option. It’s not clear how exactly the plan will work, or if the equipment will be prescribed to patients to take home.
According to NHS guidance, a oxygen concentrator machine is suitable if someone would benefit from having oxygen for many hours a day, including while they are asleep.
The machines, which are about 75cm (2.5ft) high and plug into electrical sockets, filter oxygen from the air in the room and delivers it through plastic tubes to a mask or nasal cannula.
Long tubing can be fixed around the floor or skirting board of a house, with two points where they can be can plugged in to the oxygen supply. When the machine is installed, an engineer or nurse normally discusses the length of tubing needed.
Updated
The NASUWT, one of the largest teaching unions in the UK, has written to the Department for Education in England and its counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, urging them to extend their coronavirus advice to schools to address a surge in incidents of racism and xenophobia.
The union says it has received increased reports of black and minority ethnic teachers and pupils being subjected to “racist name-calling and intimidation” connected to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Chris Keates, the union’s acting general secretary, said:“The NASUWT is extremely concerned at the extent of increased incidences of abuse, prejudice, xenophobia and racism as a result of the coronavirus (Covid-19).
“Misinformation and false reporting about the coronavirus, its causes and how it is spread have fuelled fear and panic and in some cases led to the ostracising of people of east Asian heritage and others perceived to be ‘foreign’ or an ‘immigrant’ within the UK.
“Unfortunately, schools and colleges are not exempt from the associated xenophobic and racialised stereotyping of Chinese and other east Asian people. The NASUWT has received reports of increased covert and overt racial attacks perpetrated against some minority ethnic pupils and NASUWT members linked to coronavirus concerns.
“The NASUWT is urging the Department for Education to communicate with schools and provide guidance and support for school leaders.”
Updated
The total number of deaths from the new coronavirus in Iran has reached 92, the country’s healthy ministry is reporting.
About 8% of the Iranian parliament’s MPs have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said on Tuesday, as the country announced plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers against the deadliest outbreak of the epidemic outside China.
Two senior Iranian officials have already died from the virus and several more are infected. Semi-official news agencies on Tuesday reported that the head of the country’s emergency medical services, Pirhossein Kolivand, was now also ill.
Updated
A hospital staff member in the north-west of England has been confirmed as a case of the new coronavirus.Although the patient is believed to have contracted the virus in Italy, the case is the latest example of a health worker succumbing to it.
A spokesman for the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “The trust can confirm that a member of hospital staff has tested presumptive positive for Covid-19 following a trip to northern Italy. On returning from the trip, the member of staff sensibly self-isolated and did not come into work or have any contact with patients.
“We can assure the public that the risk remains low. The trust is operating normally and there is no need to cancel any appointments.”
On Monday, a clinician at Hertfordshire Mount Vernon Cancer Centre was initially confirmed positive for the virus but then tested negative.
A family doctor in Brighton and a member of staff at Worthing hospital, West Sussex, were among the first coronavirus cases to be identified in Britain last month.
There were concerns last week that a Surrey GP may also have been infected. The regional director for Public Health England said on Monday that none of the four patients in a cluster in the county were GPs or health workers.
Updated
The Hannover Messe, a major industrial fair in Germany, has announced its postponement until July.
New Date – Same Story!
— HANNOVER MESSE (@hannover_messe) March 4, 2020
Never before in our more than seven-decade history we have made such a decision.#HM20 has been postponed to the week of 13th to 17th of July 2020! https://t.co/Vr2aRdQQXP pic.twitter.com/PPHk1Kj76k
A pharmaceutical company in Japan has said it is developing a drug for high-risk patients infected with the new coronavirus, joining several other drugmakers seeking to develop a treatment for an illness.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co said it was working on a plasma-derived therapy that had previously been shown to be effective in treatment of severe acute viral respiratory infections, Reuters reports.
Its research would require antibodies from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus infections or who have been vaccinated, once a vaccine has been developed.
“By transferring the antibodies to a new patient, it may help that person’s immune system respond to the infection and increase their chance of recovery,” Takeda said in a statement.
Updated
Coronavirus is likely to be spreading undetected in the UK already, with health officials on the brink of moving into the phase of “delaying” rather than trying to “contain” transmission, the chief medical officer has said.
Chris Whitty, who is helping to lead the government’s response, said it was “likely, not definite, that we will move on to onward transmission and an epidemic here in the UK”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Whitty said the UK was almost in the second phase of the government’s strategy of trying to contain, delay, research and mitigate the virus.
“When I was here previously, we were firmly in contain stage. Now I think we are on the borderline between containing and delaying. But many of the things you do to contain it also delay it.”
Whitty gave his assessment as the government designated coronavirus a notifiable disease, which means some companies will be able to seek insurance compensation for coronavirus cancellations.
The move brings England into line with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, which have already added coronavirus to their lists of notifiable diseases.
Updated
London Book Fair cancelled
The London Book Fair, a huge event in the publishing industry and due to take place between 10-12 March, has been cancelled.
Publishers and agents had been pulling out day by day but it’s still a major development in terms of the impact of the announcement.
Here’s a tweet from the organisers.
— The London Book Fair (@LondonBookFair) March 4, 2020
This is Ben Quinn picking up the live blog now. You can flag up any news tips by email at ben.quinn@theguardian.com or on twitter at @BenQuinn75
Updated
The European Central Bank said on Wednesday that it’s restricting all non-essential travel by members of its executive board and employees until 20 April as a precautionary measure amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
The Associated Press reports the central bank for the 19-nation eurozone said visits to its Frankfurt headquarters and its public visitor centre are being suspended for the same period. It is postponing or cancelling conferences that were due to be held at the bank but says that news conferences after regular policy-setting meetings of its governing council are unaffected, and that the next one will go ahead on 12 March as planned.
On Tuesday, the World Bank and the IMF announced they would be scrapping the spring meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington and replacing them with virtual meetings because of coronavirus outbreak
Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and David Malpass, the president of the World Bank Group, said in a joint statement:
Like everyone else around the world, we have been deeply concerned by the evolving situation of the coronavirus and the human tragedy surrounding it. Given growing health concerns related to the virus, the management of the IMF and World Bank Group and their executive boards have agreed to implement a joint plan to adapt the 2020 IMF-World Bank spring meetings to a virtual format. Our goal is to serve our membership effectively while ensuring the health and safety of spring meetings participants and staff.
We remain fully committed to maintaining a productive dialogue with our stakeholders and will leverage our IT-related and virtual connection capabilities to the fullest to hold our essential policy consultations with the membership. We will also continue to share IMF and World Bank analyses. With this adapted format, we are confident that our member countries will be able to effectively engage on pressing global economic issues at these spring meetings.
Updated
A couple of universities have decided to postpone their graduation ceremonies in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The University of Buckingham announced today it has postponed its graduation ceremonies due to fears of aiding the spread of the coronavirus. The event will be rescheduled for later in the year.
Sir Anthony Seldon, the university’s vice-chancellor, said:
We have made the difficult decision to postpone our graduation ceremonies due to the precautionary warnings from the government regarding the coronavirus (Covid-19).
Any disappointment felt is entirely understandable but we truly believe this is the best decision for our students and their guests. Our hope is that by announcing this news as early as possible, those who need to invoke cancellation policies on travel or accommodation will still have time to do so.
The University of London has decided to postpone the graduation ceremony for students on its distance and flexible learning programmes. The ceremony was scheduled to take place in London on 3 March at the Barbican Centre.
Pro-vice-chancellor Chris Cobb said:
We have taken the difficult decision to postpone the event due to the ongoing coronavirus issue. We truly regret the inconvenience caused but, after careful consideration, we felt it important to minimise the risk to our students and their guests.
This event is different to many others due to the large numbers of attendees travelling from affected regions and the potential impact it may have on others attending and travelling back to regions which are currently unaffected.
Updated
Two cases of coronavirus in Scotland
Scotland’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman, has said that two more cases of coronavirus were confirmed overnight, taking the number of patients diagnosed in the country to three. She refused to give further details of the new cases in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme.
Freeman said evidence globally suggested that for the vast majority of those infected the symptoms would be “very mild”, but added that the advice was still to “self-isolate” in a bid to contain the virus.
“People have a conscience about it where they don’t want to infect others so our expectation is that the overwhelming majority of people will follow that clinical advice and stay at home”.
Freeman added that a power existed under the 2008 Public Health Scotland Act to apply for a court order “if someone has an infectious disease and will not follow clinical advice in order to make sure they are quarantined”. But she added: “That’s a very harsh power and we’re not at that point.”
Asked about Scottish government figures suggesting a worst-case scenario of 160,000 being hospitalised, she said these numbers came from Chinese figures that were being refined and remodelled to fit the UK scenario, and said that not all of those people will require hospital treatment at the same time.
Freeman said she was looking at capacity in the health service and aware of the need to create more headroom, in particular in areas such as where patients need high oxygen therapy. She said she would be meeting with local authorities later on Wednesday “to ensure that people who are clinically ready to leave hospital are doing so as quickly as possible”.
Updated
The latest daily update from the World Health OrganiZation (WHO) states eight new countries – Andorra, Jordan, Latvia, Morocco, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Tunisia – reported cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
The WHO is particularly concerned by the increase of coronavirus cases in the eastern Mediterranean region is of great concern and reiterated the need to enhance surveillance and response activities, and share critical information.
Here are the latest numbers on Wednesday:
- Globally: 90,870 confirmed (1,922 new )
- China: 80, 304 confirmed (130 new) and 2,946 deaths (31 new)
- Outside of China: 10,566 confirmed (1,792 new), 72 countries (eight new), and 166 deaths (38 new)
WHO risk assessment:
- China: very high
- Regional level: very high
- Global level: very high
Updated
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Spain has risen to 167 after new cases were detected in Madrid (10 new cases) and Mallorca (two).
Meanwhile, Spain has also confirmed its first coronavirus fatality: a 69-year-old man who died in the eastern region of Valencia on 13 February. He is reported to have travelled to Nepal before falling ill. The coronavirus was detected during a postmortem examination.
On Tuesday, Spain’s health ministry ordered that football and basketball matches involving teams from affected countries be played to empty stadiums and advised that large medical conferences and events should be cancelled to free up health professionals so they can attend to the coronavirus emergency.
Updated
A fourth person – a 92-year-old man – has died in France after contracting the coronavirus; the health authorities have declared 212 confirmed cases in the country, a jump of 21 in 24 hours.
Jérôme Salomon, the head of the country’s national health authority, said 13 regions are affected and there were three main clusters in mainland France: the largest in the Oise, north of Paris, where there are 64 cases, the Haute-Savoie (19 cases) and four villages in the Morbihan (12 cases).
There is a fourth cluster made up of people who took part in an organised trip to Egypt, 11 cases.
“The country has to hunker down. We are ready. I know we will know how to get through this, with strength and defiance,” President Emmanuel Macron told heath personnel running a crisis management centre on Tuesday evening.
The president announced that France would be requisitioning “all stocks and production of protective masks” so they could be distributed to health workers and those who have been diagnosed with the virus.
France’s sport minister Roxana Maracineanu called representatives of sports federations to a meeting on Tuesday to examine “case by case” whether events should go ahead. The Paris-Nice bike race due to take place between 8-15 March is still on for the moment. The Champions League football match between Paris Saint Germain and Dortmund on 11 March is also still happening, but the authorities are considering whether the match should take place without supporters.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an update on Facebook on the steps the social network will take to respond to the coronavirus
Facebook users who search for coronavirus on Facebook will see a pop-up that directs them to the WHO or local health authority for the latest information on the outbreak. The company will also give millions more in ad credits to other organisations.
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said:
We’re also focused on stopping hoaxes and harmful misinformation. It’s important that everyone has a place to share their experiences and talk about the outbreak, but as our community standards make clear, it’s not okay to share something that puts people in danger. So we’re removing false claims and conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organisations.
We’re also blocking people from running ads that try to exploit the situation -- for example, claiming that their product can cure the disease.
The budget airline Wizz Air, which has already cut some flights to Italy, could further reduce capacity by about 10% in its next quarter after demand was affected by the coronavirus outbreak
Reuters reports the low-cost carrier said on Wednesday that it was difficult to predict the extent and duration of the outbreak and its impact on its next financial year, which begins next month.
On Twitter, journalist Laurel Chor highlighted the lack of demand on some routes with an image of her flight from London to Milan on an unnamed airline.
My fully-boarded flight from London to Milan. #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/VlOYnLFElJ
— Laurel Chor (@laurelchor) March 3, 2020
Updated
Poland has confirmed its first coronavirus infection, Reuters reports.
Poland’s Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski said on Wednesday that a man is in hospital in Zielona Gora, western Poland, and that his condition is good.
The minister added that over 560 tests have been carried out so far and this is the only positive case, according to a report by local media.
Hong Kong’s first evacuation flight for residents stuck in Hubei has taken off, and is on its way back to Hong Kong, journalist Alvin Lum has reported.
109 HK passengers received snacks provided by CX in Wuhan airport’s departure hall before boarding the first chartered flight back home.
— Alvin L (@alvinllum) March 4, 2020
1 passenger failed temperature check and is denied boarding. pic.twitter.com/XuXniUrwEA
109 passengers were onboard the chartered Cathay Pacific plane, which left Wuhan’s international airport. One passenger presented with a high temperature and was prevented from boarding.
The flight is expected to arrive shortly after 5pm, local time.
On Wednesday Hong Kong’s chief executive announced that four flights would bring home the 533 trapped Hong Kongers, including 14 pregnant women, 22 residents who need medical treatment in Hong Kong including cancer patients, and 11 students needing to take an exam.
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Morning, I’m Aamna Mohdin taking over the liveblog from my colleague Helen Sullivan.
Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, has been doing the media rounds this morning to get a simple message out on how to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus – wash your hands regularly.
Whitty told Sky News: “At the moment our advice is very clear. Although in the longer term we may well be needing people to take more extreme action, at this stage we do not think people need to change what they’re doing in terms of their normal behaviour.”
He added that there will be a six-week period before the UK will start to see a significant amount of transmission of the virus.
“Its almost certain there will be more cases in the UK, probably a lot more cases as the prime minister laid out and we would expect some deaths,” he said.
When asked if people should be shaking hands, Whitty said: “The much more important thing is washing hands. Regular washing of hands with up to 20 seconds of soap is the key message we want to give people at this stage.”
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Summary
If you’re just joining us, here are the most important developments over the last few hours:
- The global death toll is now 3,190. More than 93,000 people have been infected in more than 80 countries. South Korea, the nation worst hit by the outbreak outside China, reported 516 new cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 5,328. In India, 17 Italian citizens have tested positive. There have been more infections recorded in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
- Fears of a global recession are mounting, after stock markets gave a lukewarm reaction to the emergency cut in US interest rates and new data showed that China and Hong Kong came to a virtual standstill in February.
- Japan cancelled a ceremony commemorating the 2011 tsunami. The national ceremony was due to be held in Tokyo exactly nine years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami killed more than 18,000 people.
- Washington state residents are struggling to get tested. In Seattle, an Amazon employee tested positive for the virus. The US vice-president, Mike Pence, announced new screening measures, including for all travellers to the US on direct flights from South Korea and Italy.
- The WHO warned that supplies of protective gear “rapidly depleting”, amid panic-buying and the manipulation of markets.
- Panic-buying hit Australia, causing a rush on essentials, canned food, and toilet paper.
Updated
Fears of global slowdown grow
Fears of a coronavirus-driven global economic slowdown have mounted after stock markets gave a lukewarm reaction to the emergency cut in US interest rates and new data showed that China and Hong Kong came to a virtual standstill in February.
Shares in Asia struggled to gain traction despite the US Federal Reserve’s surprise 0.5% cut in borrowing costs. It is the first time the Fed has used an emergency cut outside its usual meeting schedule since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008 and was aimed at steadying investor nerves after 10 days of heavy losses on financial markets.
The World Bank also announced a $12bn package to assist countries grappling with the health and economic impacts.
Helen Davidson and Martin Farrer report.
Today in coronavirus pictures
Updated
Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Here are a few of the latest big developments in the global coronavirus outbreak. Read the full summary below.
Total number of cases so far
The global death toll is 3,190 while more than 93,000 people have been infected in more than 80 countries. In China there have been 38 new deaths bringing the total to 2,981 and there are 80,270 cases in all. South Korea, the nation worst hit by the outbreak outside China, reported 516 new cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 5,328. In India, 15 Italian citizens have tested positive. There have been more infections recorded in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
Chinese services sector falls to lowest level since GFC
The coronavirus lockdown has wiped out demand for shopping, eating out and going to the cinema in China, according to a key survey.
WHO warns protective gear ‘rapidly depleting’
The World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that masks, goggles and other protective equipment used by health workers are running out amid panic buying.
Panic buying hits Australia
Supermarket chain Woolworths has said it will start rationing toilet paper as panic buying leaves store shelves empty across the country, which has 41 cases of Covid-19.
Updated
Fifteen Italian citizens test positive in India
In India, fifteen Italian citizens have tested positive for coronavirus, Indian state and private media said on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources. Reuters reports that on Monday, an Italian citizen tested positive in the state of Rajasthan, according to a health official.
In Australia, Queensland’s chief medical officer Jeanette Young has said that anyone who has travelled from Iran since the 19th of February must go into home quarantine for 14 days.
The state has confirmed its 11th case of coronavirus, with a man who had visited Iran now isolated at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Authorities have begun contact tracing passengers who were seated close to him on the plane.
“Nine contacts have been identified so far and that work is ongoing. The contacts that we really need to focus on now are those on the plane, the two rows in front, behind and either side of him,” said Young. Authorities would soon make the flight number public, she added.
Summary
Here are today’s key developments:
- The WHO warned that protective gear “rapidly depleting”, amid panic buying and the manipulation of markets.
- South Korea has reported 516 new Covid-19 cases, a day after the president, Moon Jae-in, declared “war” on the illness.
- Mainland China confirmed 119 new cases. There were 38 new deaths from the virus on 3 March. China’s services sector collapsed in February to its lowest level since the global financial crisis.
- There are now 41 cases of the virus in Australia, including a health care worker at an aged care home in Sydney. The Australian government extended self-quarantine requirements for those recently arrived from Iran.
- A second case of coronavirus was confirmed in New Zealand, with the infected woman having recently arrived in the country from Italy.
- Japan’s total number of cases has hit 1,000, with one new case confirmed today.
- US Vice President Mike Pence announced new screening measures, including for all travellers to the US on direct flights from South Korea and Italy, as Washington state residents voiced their frustrations over obstacles to getting tested.
Updated
On the latest episode of Today in Focus: Boris Johnson’s ‘battle plan’ for tackling a major outbreak of the coronavirus. The plan envisages the country close to a war footing, with schools closing, public gatherings cancelled and up to a fifth of the workforce off sick.
The Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, says that while these measures may never be needed, the plan shows how seriously the government is taking this crisis. But there is also a realisation that the virus will be extremely difficult to control and the best hope could lie in delaying the worst of the effects until a vaccine is produced.
Professional sport, its stadia packed to the brim with fans at close quarters, is anything but immune to the coronavirus outbreak. The Tokyo Olympics have come under threat and Uefa has expressed concerns as Euro 2020 approaches, while cricketers have been advised not to shake hands and NBA players have been told to avoid high-fiving fans. Think of any sport – tennis, golf, rugby, cycling, baseball, biathlon even – and chances are it has been impacted by coronavirus in some capacity.
To Australians, these have hitherto been other people’s problems. But as with most things, when the world sneezes Australia catches a cold. As another congested year of sport prepares to get even busier, fans should brace for a calendar that is at best disrupted, at worst decimated.
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The Guardian’s Hallie Golden reports that an Amazon employee in Seattle has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an internal message sent on Tuesday afternoon.
The employee went home after feeling sick on 25 February, and has stayed out of the tech company’s offices ever since, according to the message from Amazon Human Resources, which was sent to most Amazon employees in the area and obtained by the Guardian. The employee is currently in quarantine.
All other employees who came in close contact with the individual have been notified, according to the message.
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Japan will cancel a ceremony to mark the anniversary next week of the March 2011 triple disaster on its north-east coast, as part of government-led efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The national ceremony was due to be held in Tokyo on 11 March, exactly nine years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
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In morale-boosting news from Iran, healthcare workers are posting videos of themselves dancing in their protective gear.
The new dance craze in Iran’s Coronavirus wards. pic.twitter.com/c1zBRGU81U
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) March 3, 2020
Another dance video from the frontline of the fight against #Coronavirus in Iran. Every day a new video comes out and energizes and inspires people to keep fighting. pic.twitter.com/LlpOSlMTyG
— Negar Mortazavi نگار مرتضوی (@NegarMortazavi) March 4, 2020
In Australia, a 26-year-old man from Logan is in isolation in the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane after testing positive to Covid-19. It is the 11th confirmed coronavirus case in Queensland.
The Queensland health department said the man had recently returned from Iran and is in a stable condition. Authorities are also awaiting the outcome of a test from the housemate of a 20-year-old man who tested positive to Covid-19 yesterday. Both the man and his housemate are in isolation at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The 63-year-old beautician who returned from Iran early last week also remains in isolation at Gold Coast University Hospital, in a stable condition. The other eight patients have recovered. Queensland Health has urged anyone who has been overseas in the past 14 days and is feeling unwell to see a doctor immediately. People are recommended to call ahead to their GP or local hospital so they can prepare for the arrival of a potential coronavirus case.
In Hong Kong, a monk from a worship hall linked to 16 of the region’s 100 confirmed cases has tested positive in a preliminary screening, South China Morning Post is reporting.
The 43-year-old man is being treated in hospital, and is awaiting a second test to confirm the diagnosis.
Hong Kong health authorities have previously said that 16 people diagnosed with Covid-19 had visited the hall, or were related to someone who had visited it.
The South China morning post reports that a third doctor from Wuhan Central Hospital has died from Covid-19. Mei Zhongming, 57, was an opthamologist. Wuhan Central Hospital is the same one at which whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang worked. It is located close to the market where the virus was detected. Li died from Covid-19 in February.
The New Zealand government said they will consider more hardship funding for businesses who are suffering from the impacts of coronavirus, as many experience a dip in income, including those in the tourism, seafood and logging industry.
Today New Zealand confirmed its second case of coronavirus, in a woman in her 30s who had recently returned from northern Italy. Her partner is also being tested, as he is showing symptoms of the virus.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said that although it was concerning two local schools had to be alerted because of the latest case, transmission rates of the disease were low among young people.
“We’re preparing for all the different scenarios,” Ardern said, of dealing with a coronavirus outbreak in schools.
Ardern stressed the economy was still in good health, despite the upsets to the tertiary sector and various export industries.
No further travel bans were announced, but Ardern said arrivals from affected areas were dropping “daily” as airlines put their own measures in place. New Zealand is asking travellers from northern Italy and south Korea to self-isolate.
New Zealand’s travel restrictions were among the toughest in the world, Ardern said. There was no plan to ban or restrict travellers from Australia, where the disease was more widespread.
Updated
Across the world, governments are ordering or contemplating school closures in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus virus. French officials closed about 120 schools in areas that have reported the largest numbers of infections, its education minister said on Tuesday.
In some countries parents have already had their children at home for more than a month. Some have taken holidays or sent the kids overseas to relatives.
Most Hong Kong schoolchildren never returned to school following the lunar new year holidays after the government announced and then extended closures to 20 April.
So, how are parents coping? Helen Davidson, Lily Kuo and Justin McCurry report.
Updated
In more toilet paper-related coronavirus news out of Australia, the social enterprise Who Gives a Crap, which delivers toilet paper made out of 100% recycled materials and donates 50% of its profits to build toilets in the developing world, has sold out of toilet paper.
“With all the panic buying madness, we’ve sold out and are working as hard as possible to restock,” said the company on their website.
Well, that was unexpected 🤯 pic.twitter.com/izKA5rdPwB
— Who Gives A Crap (@WhoGivesACrapTP) March 3, 2020
They asked customers to consider “how we can all do our bit to encourage kindness, empathy and calm” in these “crazy times”.
The news comes as Australia’s supermarkets have reported selling out of toilet paper as people stock up in anticipation of being stuck in home quarantine due to the coronavirus. Australian supermarket giant Woolworths has begun rationing the sale of toilet paper to four packets per customer. #toiletpapercrisis has been trending on Australian social media all Wednesday.
Staff block off the aisle as they frantically replenish toilet paper supplies at Coles Hornsby last night. #toiletpapergate 📸: Russell Neale pic.twitter.com/BkdNQTaIDh
— 10 daily (@10Daily) March 3, 2020
The Australian health minister has told doctors who are facing shortages of protective face masks that they should contact their primary health network to gain access to the government’s stockpile of more than one million masks.
Asked about reports that doctors and medical clinics are facing shortages of protective face masks, Greg Hunt said: “We have half a million masks in a first-round and in a second round we have allocated another 550,000 that are available to doctors through the primary health networks. If there are any GP practices that are having issues they should contact the Department of Health or first port of call will be their primary health network.”
Updated
South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, has cancelled his planned trip to the UAE, Egypt and Turkey in mid-March because of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
“In response to the recent nationwide spread of Covid-19, we have decided not to go ahead with trips,” said presidential blue house spokesman Kang Min-seok in a statement.
Updated
Just looking back at the press conference given just after noon by the NSW health minister Brad Hazzard and the chief medical officer Kerry Chant; the key take-away is there are now two cases in that state of people being infected with coronavirus where the infection can not be traced back to a source. This means community transmission has occurred, though the community transmission has so far been contained in both cases – there is no widespread infection occurring.
The latest case of community transmission involves a 50-year-old woman working at the BaptistCare Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care facility in northern Sydney. She had not travelled to an affected country. On Monday, a 53-year-old doctor working at Ryde hospital was also diagnosed, and again he had not travelled to an infected country. Neither had knowingly been in contact with an infected person.
The press conference revealed some journalists are confused about how the disease is spread, with Chant and Hazzard grilled about how they could be sure the disease was not spreading around Ryde hospital and the BaptistCare Dorothy Henderson Lodge. This is concerning, because people may avoid seeking medical treatment of visiting loved ones if they believe there is a risk of becoming infected.
Chant reiterated that there is no ongoing threat of infection at either of the facilities. First of all, only close contacts of infected people are at risk. A close contact is defined as someone who has been face to face for at least 15 minutes with an infected person, or in the same closed space with an infected person for at least two hours without protective gear. Once you remove an infected person and their close contacts from a facility or isolate them in hospital rooms, and disinfect surfaces, there is no longer any ongoing risk of infection. People are thought to be most contagious when they are most sick, so out of caution health authorities trace back an infected person’s close contacts to the day prior to them falling ill.
“Coronavirus is not in the hospital and you will do more harm if you don’t present to the hospital because you’re scared of coronavirus,” Chant said.
She also made an important point; isolation, testing and quarantine measures are not designed to go on forever. If more widespread community transmission occurs -- and health authorities are preparing for that becoming the case -- the messages to the public and measures taken by health authorities would change, Chant said.
At the point of community spread, rather than diagnosing every person with symptoms, people who felt sick would be encouraged to stay at home and isolate themselves for 14 days. They would only need to call a doctor if they became worse.They should at that point alert ambulance or health workers on the phone ahead of time so health care workers could put measures in place such as wearing protective gear.
“While we have a strong emphasis on testing at this point in time we won’t be if there is community spread at significant levels,” Chant said. “It’s important the community understands the message will change depending on the circumstances. It’s not because we don’t know what we’re doing. We ask that the community follows our messages.”
There is still no need for members of the community to change their behaviour. Anyone with concerns can call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080.
Updated
Australia extends self-quarantine requirements for those recently arrived from Iran
Australia’s health minister Greg Hunt says it has become clear that in Iran “there is an uncontrolled spread” of the virus and as a result, the “requirements in relation to people who have travelled to Iran has now been extended”.
“That means that any person who has arrived in Australia having been in Iran from February 19 forward will be required to conduct home isolation, as has been the case with people from China, and has been the case with people from Iran from March 1. But they will be required to do that for 14 days from arrival in Australia, and that will now take effect for everybody who has arrived in Australia from and including February 19.
Hunt said the Australian government had extended this quarantine order: “out of an abundance of caution, but recognising that the situation in Iran is clearly far worse than has been documented and significantly higher than the recorded case numbers.”
Australia has 41 cases of Covid-19, says health minister
Australia’s health minister Greg Hunt is speaking now. He confirms that as of today Australia has 41 cases of Covid-19, including the worker in the aged care facility in Macquarie Park in New South Wales that we reported on earlier.
“At this point, the advice I have is that they have isolated all of the relevant residents who have been in contact,” said Hunt. Two residents of the home are under investigation, including a 95-year-old who died last night.
“At this stage, NSW Health has not identified whether that resident has in any way, shape or form, been subject to coronavirus, but for full transparency, they have identified that case as one for investigation,”
Another resident has been placed in hospital for respiratory conditions and will be tested for coronavirus.
Hunt said that globally, the numbers have increased to over 92,000 cases with over 3,100 lives lost and has now spread to over 78 countries. Among the countries that have seen their first cases of the virus are Ukraine and Morocco.
Australia Institute chief economist Richard Denniss argues that the country is on the edge of a recession not because of coronavirus, but because the economy has been languishing since 2013.
“If you thought the prime minister was slow to respond to the bushfire crisis, take a look at his response to Australia’s ailing economy,” he writes. “Morrison is currently trying to pivot away from the government’s economic inaction using the coronavirus outbreak as cover, but the only reason the coronavirus might push Australia into recession is because the economy has been languishing since the Coalition took office.”
Updated
Chinese services sector at lowest level since GFC
China’s services sector collapsed in February to its lowest level since the global financial crisis as the coronavirus lockdown wiped out demand for shopping, eating out and going to the cinema, a key survey showed on Wednesday local time.
The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) almost halved last month to 26.5 from 51.8 in January, Reuters reports.
It was the first drop below the 50-point margin on a monthly basis for the first time since the survey began almost 15 years ago in late 2005. A reading over 50 indicates expansion while a reading below means the sector is shrinking.
“Stagnating consumption amid the coronavirus epidemic has had a great impact on the service sector,” Zhengsheng Zhong, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, wrote in a note accompanying the Caixin PMI release.
The Hong Kong private sector PMI also confirmed it is heading further into recession. It fell to 33.1 in February from 46.8 in January.
#HK business activity plunged to the lowest on record.
— YUAN TALKS (@YuanTalks) March 4, 2020
IHS Markit headline HK #PMI dived to 33.1 in Feb, from 46.8 in Jan and marked the steepest downturn since at least 1998 when the survey begin.
The previous record low at 38.1 was posted during 2003 SARS epidemic.
Feb #PMI flashed warning lights on the dire private sector conditions across #Hong-Kong SAR amid coronavirus outbreak. Headline PMI plunged to an unprecedented level since survey started in 1998. Average PMI so far for Q1 points to a deepening recession. https://t.co/Phb1w3VTbQ pic.twitter.com/eJuGZfiWzd
— IHS Markit PMI™ (@IHSMarkitPMI) March 4, 2020
Updated
119 new cases in China
In Mainland China, 119 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on March 3. This is lower than yesterday, when 125 new cases were confirmed – at the time, the lowest number of new daily cases since January.
There were 38 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 2,981. The total number of cases stands at 80,270 as of the end of March 3.
South Korea reports 516 new cases
South Korea reported 516 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the country’’s total to 5,328, a day after the president, Moon Jae-in, declared “war” on the illness.
South Korea - which has the highest number of infections outside China - has recorded 32 deaths, mostly among older people with underlying illnesses, Yonhap news agency said, citing figures from the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The government has proposed an extra budget of 11.7tn won (US9.8bn) to address the spread of the virus and limit its impact on the economy. The extra budget will be submitted to the national assembly on Thursday, with government officials urging MPs to pass the measures as quickly as possible.
About 60% of South Korea’s infections have been linked to a branch of the Shincheonji religious sect in the southeastern city of Daegu, although testing has been widened to include people in the city who re not connected with the sect, Yonhap said.
Of the 516 new cases announced on Wednesday, 405 were in Daegu and 89 were in neighboring North Gyeongsang province, the KCDC said.
Washington state residents struggle to get tested
In Washington state, where the coronavirus has claimed nine lives, residents on Tuesday reported a frustrating array of misinformation and obstacles as they were seeking to get tested. The virus has claimed nine lives in the state.
Our reporter Hallie Golden spoke to residents in Seattle:
Updated
Second case in New Zealand
A second case of coronavirus has been confirmed in New Zealand, with the infected woman having recently arrived in the country from Italy.
The latest infection is a New Zealand citizen, a woman in her early 30s who recently returned from a trip to northern Italy and rapidly became ill.
The woman’s partner is also showing symptoms of the illness, health authorities said today, and is currently being tested.
Here is our full story:
Mike Pence announces new screening measures
US Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday that US public health authorities had issued new guidance to make clear that a doctor’s order was all that would be needed for any American to be tested for the novel coronavirus, Reuters reports.
The US would also begin screening all travellers coming to the US on direct flights from Italy and South Korea, he said.
International travel to the United States will drop 6% over the next three months amid growing concerns about the outbreak, the US Travel Association forecast on Tuesday. The drop would be the largest decline in international inbound travel since the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
The chief executives of several major US airlines are scheduled to meet with Pence at the White House on Wednesday.
American Airlines stock is down 40% since mid-February, and shares were down 2.8% on Tuesday. United Airlines shares, which fell 3.5% Tuesday, are down 28% since mid-February.
The stocks of major hotel and cruise line companies have also fallen sharply. Pence is scheduled to meet with cruise line executives in Florida on Saturday.
Updated
More on the situation in Australia: Dr Kerry Chant, NSW chief medical officer, said, “We have obviously had an increased number of cases reported from travellers returning overseas. In some of those cases, we will – we are initiating, and have commenced, contact tracing procedures in relation to the plane.”
She added that a list of the flight numbers and the rows of concern would be published on the NSW health ministry’s website, with advice for travellers.
“So, people seated in the same row as a case, or in the two rows in front or the two rows behind a confirmed COVID-19 case are defined as close contacts and are advised to self-quarantine at home for 14 days of the flight, and seek immediate medical attention if symptoms are present,” she explained. The rest of passengers on those flights would be advised to self-monitor for symptoms for two weeks after the flight.
In Australia, here’s Kerry Chant, the chief medical officer for New South Wales, speaking at the conference.
Coronavirus: "There was a patient that presented to a general practice at Fairfield. But any staff or patient who have come in contact with the case are being contact directly by the Public Health Unit staff. And there is no on-going risk to the practice" - Kerry Chant. #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/ODM23LHClQ
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 4, 2020
Updated
Australia reports Sydney health care worker infected
In Australia health officials say a health worker at an old people’s home in Sydney has been infected with the new coronavirus.
Brad Hazzard, New South Wales health minister, said the “much-loved” and longstanding member of staff at a residential care home has been confirmed as having the virus.
She had been working with 13 residents at Dorothy Henderson Lodge, which is part of Baptist Care in Macquarie Park.
Eleven of the residents have since been isolated. The other two residents presented with respiratory symptoms, Hazzard said at a media conference in Sydney, but it was not clear whether they had the virus. One of them, a 95-year-old woman, has died and the other is being tested.
One of those was a 95-year-old lady who has passed away. Now, whether or not it was related to corona, we don’t know at this point. And another resident who is being tested currently.
The health worker has not been overseas, raising the question of how she ended up with coronavirus, Hazzard said.
She was working on around about 24 February when she started to get those symptoms that I was just talking about – the sort of symptoms that we’re all very familiar with, with flu,” said Hazzard. “And so we did the checks. And, of course, we’re aware that it’s likely that she could have been capable of passing on the coronavirus from at least the day before, 24 hours, so that’s 23 February.
Updated
Asia Pacific stocks react to the US Fed's emergency rate cut
The reaction of Asia Pacific stocks – or lack of it – to the US Federal Reserve’s emergency rate cut means we’re in for another volatile day’s trading on the financial markets.
Shares in Sydney are down 1.7%, although in Tokyo, where trading has just started, the market is pretty flat at 0.6% and in Seoul the Kospi index is up 1.39%. However, futures trading points to a fall in Hong Kong later.
The Fed’s move out of its usual meeting schedule is extremely rare. The last time they did this was at the height of Lehman crisis in 2008. So the fact they’ve acted in such a way and for it to have so little impact is worrying. Fear is back, as Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at Natiixis bank in Hong Kong says:
Of course, the president is throwing the Fed under the bus even with a massive cut & he is clearly worried too that the expectations of worse earnings will feed through the economy + people’s fear of the virus’ll keep them from consuming & driving growth.
— Trinh Nguyen (@Trinhnomics) March 4, 2020
Fear is back today 👈🏻🙈
Kyle Rodda, of IG Markets in Melbourne, says market sentiment has been adversely affected by the Fed’s 50 basis point cut, which has not calmed concerns about a global recession:
“The Fed’s 50-pointer initially supported market sentiment, as investors got a little giddy on the prospect of cheaper money. But the fundamental concerns about the coronavirus, and whether monetary policy would really stop a slow-down in the US and global economy, prevailed. The Vix volatility index spiked once again, to trade back around the 40 mark – a level entirely unconducive taking confident long positions in risk assets.
Underlining official concern about Covid-19’s impact on the world economy, the World Bank has announced a $12bn package to assist countries grappling with the health and economic impacts.
World Bank president David Malpass said there were still “many unknowns” about the fast-spreading virus and “much more” aid might be required, but he declined to elaborate.
“The point is to move fast; speed is needed to save lives,” Malpass said during a teleconference with reporters. “There are scenarios where much more resources may be required. We’ll adapt our approach and resources as needed.”
Japan confirms new case, bringing total to 1,000
Japan has confirmed another case of coronavirus infection, bringing the total in the country to 1,000 cases, Reuters reports. This number includes those from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that had been quarantined off Yokohama.
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In Australia, Brendan Murphy, the country’s chief medical officer, has just been telling the federal parliament in Canberra that the government is doing what it can to replenish stocks of protective clothing and equipment for health workers.
The other dimension in preparation is there is a worldwide concern about the availability of personal protective equipment, you know, masks and the like, which there has obviously been a run on an government is very focused on making sure we enhance and build greater our stocks. We’ve always had a stockpile and the states have stockpiles ... We are doing a full assessment of that and making sure that we buy more and do what we can to be prepared for every eventuality.”
Speaking more generally about the outbreak, he said:
The focus is on containment, limitation and slowing any spread. We can keep the situation under control. We are a well prepared health system but even the best system can face a challenge.”
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WHO warns protective gear 'rapidly depleting'
The World Health Organization has voiced concern that the masks, googles and other protective equipment used by health workers is running out amid panic buying and the manipulation of markets, warning that supplies are “rapidly depleting”, Reuters reports.
“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,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
“We can’t stop Covid-19 without protecting our health workers,” he said. The prices of surgical masks have increased six-fold, while the cost for ventilators had tripled, he added.
Tedros said that WHO had shipped more than half a million sets of personal protective equipment to 27 countries, but urged a dramatic hike in production. The WHO estimates the response to Covid-19 will require 89 million medical masks, 76 million pairs of examination gloves and 1.6 million goggles each month.
More than 3,100 people have died from the new virus, while over 92,000 have been infected across 77 countries and territories, according to AFP’s latest toll based on official sources.
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Welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus. Today the World Heath Organization has warned that there is a global shortage of the protective equipment needed to fight the coronavirus. Governments worldwide are mobilising to protect economies from recession.
Here is the summary from the last few hours.
- Iran will mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to against the country’s outbreak, the deadliest outside China, as 2,300 cases are confirmed, including 23 MPs.
- Australia’s sharemarket dropped 1.4% after the opening bell on Wednesday, despite the US Fed cut in interest rates. The losses reversed a rally on Tuesday that followed more than a week of losses.
- A ninth person with coronavirus has died in Seattle in the US. The person died six days ago, but the infection was only detected later. New York has identified its second case.
- Spain confirmed its first death from the new coronavirus. The man died almost three weeks ago, with new tests confirming the virus as the cause.
- New cases were identified in Algeria, Ireland, and Chile. Algeria’s total number of cases now stands at eight. Ireland’s stands at two. Chile’s case is the country’s first.
- The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has risen by 27 over the past 24 hours to 79. 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.
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