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Virus hits shipping, spreading global economic strain
Sea freight transport, the lifeblood of trade and a bellwether of the global economy, has been blown off course by the new coronavirus, sparking general alarm. As analysts pore over charts to gauge just how badly Chinese mega-factories have been hit, figures provided by cargo ship traffic paint a gloomy picture. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) reflects the daily price of moving goods such as coal, rice and wheat along routes deemed representative of the global market. Some call it the canary in the coal mine for the economic world. The BDI has now reached lows last seen in early 2016, when the shipping sector was suffering a supply and demand imbalance in the wake of the 2008-09 global economic crisis.
China virus cases drop as foreign fears rise
Fears mounted Saturday as cases of the new coronavirus multiplied outside China in places such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with pockets of outbreak sparking lockdowns and school closures. Europe saw its first deaths from the COVID-19 strain, whose transmission authorities say has been untraceable in some instances. Infection has now reached more than 25 countries worldwide and caused more than a dozen fatalities outside China. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has cautioned that if countries do not quickly mobilise to fight the reach of the virus, “this outbreak could go in any direction. It could even be messy.”
Passengers from Malaysia, Nepal among others to be screened for Coronavirus at Mumbai Airport
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has started screening passengers coming from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Nepal abiding the recent directive issued by the government, airport officials said. The airport will continue to screen people coming from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and South Korea. The Ministry of Health has tightened screenings and has issued an advisory requiring all passengers arriving from these countries to undergo screening for novel coronavirus infection.
WHO team visits Wuhan city as China’s Coronovirus death toll jumps to 2,442
Ninety-seven more people died in China due to coronavirus, taking the death toll to 2,442, officials said on Sunday, as a team of WHO experts visited the worst-affected Wuhan city in Hubei province.By the end of Saturday, a total of 2,442 people had died of the disease and 76,936 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in its daily update on Sunday. Ninety-six deaths were reported from Hubei province and one from Guangdong province on Saturday besides 648 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections, it said.
China’s Xi Jinping writes letter to Bill Gates, thanks him for foundation’s ‘generosity’ in the fight against coronavirus
Chinese President Xi Jinping has written a letter expressing thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the organisation’s “generosity” and support tackling a deadly virus epidemic, state media said Saturday. The outbreak of the new COVID-19 strain has claimed 2,345 lives in mainland China and infected more than 76,000 people, with cases in more than 25 countries. Earlier this month the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed up to USD 100 million for the global outbreak.
New virus has infected nearly 78,000 people globally
The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it.
China reports 648 new cases of Coronavirus on Feb 22, 97 more deaths
Mainland China had 648 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Saturday, the National Health Commission said on Sunday, up from 397 the previous day. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in China to 76,936 so far.
South Korea reports 123 more Coronavirus cases
South Korea reports 123 more #Coronavirus cases, bringing total to 556 in the country: AFP news agency
— ANI (@ANI) 1582421667000
Italy to restrict movement of people amid spike in coronavirus
Italian regions most affected by the new coronavirus will now be able to restrict the movement of people in order to prevent the spread of the disease, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced after an emergency ministerial meeting. Head of Italy’s civil protection agency Angelo Borelli said at the same press conference that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy was 79, with two people having died from the disease.According to Borelli, 51 people have been hospitalized, with 18 of them currently in intensive care. Eleven of the people infected with the new coronavirus in Italy are quarantined at home.
China virus cases drop as foreign fears rise
Fears mounted Saturday as cases of the new coronavirus multiplied outside China in places such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with pockets of outbreak sparking lockdowns and school closures. Europe saw its first deaths from the COVID-19 strain, whose transmission authorities say has been untraceable in some instances. Infection has now reached more than 25 countries worldwide and caused more than a dozen fatalities outside China. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has cautioned that if countries do not quickly mobilise to fight the reach of the virus, “this outbreak could go in any direction. It could even be messy.”
Iran shuts schools, cultural centres as coronavirus kills five
Iran on Saturday ordered the closure of schools, universities and cultural centres after a coronavirus outbreak that has killed five people in the Islamic republic — the most outside the Far East. The moves came as Iranian authorities reported one more death among 10 new cases of the virus. Since it emerged in December, the new coronavirus has killed 2,345 people in China, the epicentre of the epidemic, and 17 elsewhere in the world. The COVID-19 outbreak in Iran first surfaced on Wednesday, when authorities said it claimed the lives of two elderly people in Qom, a Shiite holy city south of the capital.
