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Coronavirus live updates: stock markets plunge on global recession fears
Coronavirus live updates: stock markets plunge on global recession fears
(32 minutes later)
With cases spiking sharply across Europe and emergency measures in place from California to Saudi Arabia, investors have sent shares tumbling. Follow all the developments live
With cases spiking sharply across Europe and emergency measures in place from California to Saudi Arabia, investors have sent shares tumbling. Follow all the developments live
Here’s the latest from China, where new infections and coronavirus-related deaths continue to slow.
Australia’s shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says, “The response needs to be broad enough to make a difference and big enough and fast enough.”
China reported 22 new deaths, the lowest new cases on record
He is now talking about petrol retailers who, he says, “should not be taking us for mugs” by holding on to petrol price reductions. Australians need this price relief he says.
There were 40 new cases nationwide, the National Health Commission said, with most in Hubei, the central province at the epicentre of the outbreak.
Australia’s shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking now, with a much less reassuring message – albeit one focussed on criticising the government – listing the challenges faced by Australia’s economy beyond coronavirus.
The 22 new deaths – which were all in Hubei except one – bring the country’s toll to 3,119.
“This Coronavirus will have a very big impact on our economy and it warrants and demands a substantial response from our government. The economy was already weak, heading into the challenges of the fire season and the Coronavirus and now it is getting weaker. Already before the virus hit, we had slowing quarterly growth, annual growth was well below average, business investment went backwards for three-quarters in a row. We have got stagnant wages, very high household debt, issues with consumption and productivity.”
More than 80,700 people have been infected in total in mainland China.
Australian shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers is now speaking about the economy: “I am conscious that the stock market has again taken a big hit, as confidence here and around the world has suffered from the outbreak of the virus. I know it is having an impact on our dollar as well, which is lower again. There is a lot of anxiety and a lot of concern in our economy and in our community.”
A senior government official hinted last week that China could soon lift the lockdown on the province imposed in late January, which has effectively restricted the movement of some 56 million people in Hubei.
Brendan Murphy, Australia’s Chief medical officer, says “thousands” have been asked to self-isolate, but he does not have exact numbers.
However, there have now been 67 cases of imported infections brought into the country, the health commission said, with four new cases confirmed Monday.
The gist of that presser is:
The rise in imported cases is raising fears that the country’s progress in bringing infections down could be undone, and several local authorities are imposing quarantines on those arriving from hard-hit areas.
Return travellers with symptoms, get tested
Saudi seals off Shiite-majority region, closes schools over coronavirus
There has been only one case of community transmission in the country
Saudi authorities Sunday cordoned off the eastern region of Qatif, a stronghold of the kingdom’s Shiite minority, in a bid to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus as the total number of cases rose to 11, AFP reports.
The focus at the moment is therefore on return travellers
The lockdown on Qatif, home to around 500,000 people, is the first action of its kind across the Gulf region that has confirmed more than 230 coronavirus cases – most of them people returning from religious pilgrimages to Shiite-majority Iran.
Australian Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy is addressing media at the moment about the general status of the outbreak in the country.
“Given that all 11 recorded positive cases of the new coronavirus are from Qatif... it has been decided... to temporarily suspend entry and exit from Qatif,” the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Asked whether those who have not had contact with recent travellers from China or South Korea, but have a runny nose, whether you should get a test, Murphy says:
Although the ministry said the lockdown was temporary, it risks fuelling resentment in the flashpoint region whose residents have long accused the Sunni-dominated government of discrimination, a charge Riyadh denies.
Not unless you are a returned traveller and you have symptoms, symptoms that suggest you might have an upper respiratory infection - a cough, a significant runny nose and fever.”
Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province – which includes Qatif – has seen bouts of unrest since 2011 when protesters emboldened by that year’s Arab Spring uprisings took to the streets.
In Australia, we’re hearing from the chief medical officer Brendan Murphy, who says:
Air New Zealand has withdrawn full-year guidance it downgraded just two weeks ago amid mounting disruption from the global coronavirus outbreak.
Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy says pregnant women should take particular care with their health but that there haven’t been any major issues in pregnant women who’ve been infected – that’s the advice from China.
The carrier’s chief executive has also taken a pay cut as it braces for a greater-than-expected hit from virus-related closures and travel bans that are hurting the wider aviation industry.
Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy is talking a bit about the special clinics being set up to deal with the outbreak.
Air NZ in February predicted the Covid-19 hit to FY20 earnings would be in the range of $NZ35 million ($A34 million) to $NZ75 million ($A72 million) due to lower demand and capacity cuts.
“Sometimes they might be located within an existing clinic, but with a separate entrance. The idea is to keep potential cases away from the general community,” he says.
The company on Monday said financial impact is now likely to be more significant than previously estimated.
REPORTER: So they will be essentially in the suburbs and towns, more so than the major metro areas?
“And with the situation evolving at such a rapid pace, the airline is not in a position to provide an earnings outlook to the market at this time,” Air New Zealand said in a release.
Murphy: “We’re working for a range of them. It will be more difficult in rural and regional areas.”
The company has already cut flights to Hong Kong, suspended Shanghai services until March, and Seoul flights from March to June.
Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy says screening at the airport “hasn’t picked up many people so far. Most people end up becoming unwell when they come here. But we certainly do have very enhanced screening at the moment.”
Australia’s Qantas airline on Friday announced it would cut more international flights as it too grapples with falling demand.
Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy is addressing the media about the status of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Asked about travel bans – given he has just said the most important consideration for the spread of the virus in Australia is from return travellers to monitor themselves and report to doctors if they have any symptoms:
Qantas’ latest cuts to destinations including Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka, Hong Kong and Auckland are on top of its grounding the equivalent of 18 planes as it cut international and domestic capacity last month.
“Our current travel bans are proportionate. No more travel bans are recommended,” he says.
The ASX is now down 6%. The Australian Financial Review is reporting that “Australian shares are on track for their worst day since the GFC.”
In Australia, the country’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy says:
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is wrapping up now, he says there is a coordinated response to the crisis from central banks.
Still in Australia, where Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is addressing the media. Asked about the concerns casual workers have over disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, he says:
The ASX-200 is now down 5.8%.
Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg says, “Australia is well prepared, economically, and we go into this challenge from a position of strength.”
Asked about today’s ASX tumble, Frydenberg says, “This is a very different situation to what we saw through the GFC, which was essentially, a problem with the banking and the financial system and issues of liquidity. We haven’t seen those same problems in relation to this health crisis.”
Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the economic impact of Coronavirus is “very significant”.
Still in Australia for the moment, the ABC’s state political reporter in Perth Jacob Kagi said in a tweet that the fifth case in Western Australia contracted the virus from her husband, who had recently returned from Iran.
A fifth case of Covid-19 has been confirmed in Western Australia, the ABC reports.
In Australia, “as far as prioritising our testing capacity in coming weeks, the state government will be prioritising testing for health care workers,” says health minister Jenny Mikakos.
Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos is briefing the media on the latest cases in the state. Asked whether she would like to apologise for her use of the word “flabbergasted” referring to the story of a doctor who presented to work last week with symptoms, she says:
“Look, I needed to stress – and I will continue the stress the fact – we need to be alive to the facts. This is a public health emergency of an unprecedented nature that our nation and that the entire global community is facing.”
In Australia, Victoria health minister Jenny Mikakos says, “We’ve increased in Victoria, the the biggest jump we have had so far. Three additional cases just today. A big jump from 10 to 15 cases in the last three days.
In Australia, Victoria health minister Jenny Mikakos is asked whether she wishes to apologise to Chris Higgins, the doctor who presented to work despite having flu-like symptoms and was later diagnosed as having Covid-19.
She responds by thanking all health care workers for their work.
“We will not make any apology for the fact that we will always prioritise public health,” she adds.
There are three additional cases today in Victoria.
Victoria health minister Jenny Mikakos is giving a press conference, she says there have been around three hundred presentations at hospitals in the state.
She is issuing a reminder to health care practitioners to not come to work if they are showing any symptoms and to stay away until those symptoms have completely gone away.
In Australia, Victoria health minister Jenny Mikakos is giving a press conference. In this emergency, “We cannot operate on fear or favour,” she says.
The trading day is under way in Japan and South Korea and it’s more of the same with the Nikkei down 4.5% as signalled by the futures market earlier. In Seoul, the Kospi index has lost 3%.US government bond yields have also sunk to new lows this morning, a sign of increasingly negative outlook on the global economy as investors take money out of risky assets such as shares and commodities (oil, for example) and put it into rock solid investments with a guaranteed return. Others safe havens such as the Japanese yen and gold have also risen in value.
The benchmark US treasury 10-year bond yield (basically the interest rate paid on government bonds) has fallen to 0.4949% in trade in Japan this morning.
