Trump looking at domestic flight ban to curb Covid-19 spread
Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Donald Trump said he was looking “very strongly” at banning domestic air travel, in a dramatic step to curb the spread of coronavirus that would have a severe impact on the reeling aviation industry.
Mr Trump said he may announce some recommendations soon, but added that he was conscious that it would be a significant step because of the potential damage to the US airline industry.
“You really are clamping down on an industry that is desperately needed,” Mr Trump said. “That is a calculation that we’re looking at right now.”
Later in the White House briefing, Mr Trump suggested that any ban on domestic travel could be more limited, saying: “We are thinking about hotspots.”
Mr Trump spoke as the number of US coronavirus cases topped 206,000 and the death toll rose to 4,633, an almost 50 per cent rise from Tuesday. New York remains the worst hotspot with almost 2,000 deaths, while 355 people have died in New Jersey. Louisiana, a state with a much smaller population, has recorded 273 deaths.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mike Pence, the US vice-president and head of the White House coronavirus task force, said the virus could return in the fall or winter, but stressed that the US would be better prepared at that point.
“We will be in a much, much better place … if the coronavirus stays with us,” Mr Pence told CNN.
With the White House forecasting that as many as 240,000 people could die, Mr Pence was asked why the federal government was not following the example of many states and ordering a national “stay-at-home” policy. But he sidestepped the question, saying he had been “very inspired” at how people were heeding the social distancing guidelines that were recommended for 15 days and then extended by a month until the end of April.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, issued a stay-at-home order for the 21m residents of the state, which as a retirement destination has a much larger proportion of vulnerable elderly people.
Greece bans activities around coastline during lockdown
Kerin Hope in Athens
Greece has banned swimming and watersports around its coastline for as long as the country remains in lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Sailing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding as well as snorkelling and spearfishing are included in the ban, a shipping ministry official said.
Greece announced sailing restrictions last month for yachts and other leisure vessels based in ports and marinas around the country.
The transport ministry said on Wednesday that all flights to Greek islands by private planes and helicopters had been grounded.
Panama revamps distancing rules with alternate days out for men and women
Jude Webber in Mexico City
Not content with a strict quarantine, Panama, with one of the highest number of coronavirus cases in Latin America, has implemented a new social distancing strategy: men and women are now only allowed out on separate days.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are the days women are allowed out; men are permitted to leave their homes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and Sunday is “everyone at home” day, according to the health ministry.
The new rules don’t stop there: men and women can only go out on their permitted days within two-hour set time slots according to the last number on their identity card or passport. “We’ve studied all the possible models and all the alternatives to reduce the number of people who can be out in the street at the same time,” the ministry said in a flyer.
“In this face of the fight against coronavirus, we need 15 days in which people stay in the maximum possible to protect lives and guarantee that our country advances,” it said.
Panama had 1,075 confirmed cases as of Tuesday and 30 deaths.
Chicago mayor embraces memes in PSA urging residents to ‘stay home’
Claire Bushey in Chicago
Mayors are having a moment.
First, it was Italian mayors imploring their citizens to stay home.
Then it was the small-town Kentucky mayor who said the same in an expletive-laden Facebook post. Now Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has become a meme.
Ms Lightfoot closed a swath of city parkland along Lake Michigan six days ago after some city residents ignored a statewide order to stay home and turned out in crowds. That inspired artist Danny Martinez to create an image of a stern-looking Ms Lightfoot standing in front of a police barricade barring entrance to the lakefront. The Instagram account “whereslightfoot” now has 37,000 followers.
Others have created their own takes since then. The mayor has embraced it, making her own wacky public service announcement in which she bakes, gabs on the phone and shoots indoor hoops, telling viewers each time to, “Stay home. Save lives.”
Pakistan engages youth to deliver coronavirus supplies to the poor
Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan has launched a new youth movement known as ‘Corona relief Tigers’ to deliver relief supplies to the poorest segments of society, as the country counts its losses from a de facto lockdown.
Yet, to his critics the promised movement that Mr Khan has called a ‘jihad’ or holy war for serving the poor will just not be up to the task. So far, at least 2,200 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus while 31 have died from that condition across the country.
Pakistan’s opposition leaders say, the movement may end up becoming a recruiting ground for activists belonging to Mr Khan’s ‘Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’ or Pakistan Justice Movement rather than a non-partisan platform for relief work.
Others say, a push for the new movement will effectively bypass Pakistan’s civil society organisations with long established experience of leading relief work in calamity-stricken locations.
“Our CSOs [Civil society Organisations] are very experienced. We don’t need a new team of Tigers which will take time to get going” the head of a Pakistani CSO with prior experience of emergency relief work told the Financial Times.
American Airlines taps $2.7bn in loans
Claire Bushey in Chicago
American Airlines today drew down revolving loans totaling $2.7bn.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline borrowed the funds from credit agreements it set up with banks in 2013, 2014 and 2016. The 2013 and 2016 revolvers were tapped in full, while an additional $110m remains on the 2014 agreement.
American carried the highest debt burden among major US carriers when the coronavirus pandemic caused demand for air travel to crater. The US government approved $50bn in aid to the industry in the stimulus bill passed last week.
Cases in Brazil more than triple in a week
Andres Schipani in São Paulo
Brazil’s number of confirmed coronavirus cases more than tripled in the past week to 6,836 on Wednesday afternoon, with 240 fatalities, as President Jair Bolsonaro tries to soothe political tensions over his response to the outbreak.
After a scathing tug-of-war with state governors over lockdowns, Mr Bolsonaro took to the airwaves on Tuesday night moderating his tone. “We have a mission: to save lives without losing jobs,” he said, easing his combative stance of downplaying Covid-19, calling for a unified effort between the executive, states, and Congress.
Yet, the fiery rightwing president once again sought to make the case for more flexible social distancing protocols to save the economy and, on Wednesday, he took to social media to slam governors for imposing lockdowns. His post was later deleted.
Merck, Pfizer and Eli Lilly allow employees to volunteer services in virus fight
Three of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies announced plans that will allow global employees with medical and laboratory expertise to volunteer their services to local healthcare systems and those most affected by coronavirus.
Licensed medical professionals at Merck, Pfizer and Eli Lilly will be allowed to offer their services in the fight against Covid-19 and maintain their base pay as part of volunteer services programmes, the chief executives of the three companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The move could mobilise the thousands of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians and other medical professionals employed around the world by the trio to assist local doctors and first responders, as well as supporting patients.
“We believe that by unleashing our medical professionals to help relieve some of the burden being felt by hospitals, we can help make a real and important difference,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer chief executive, said.
UN climate talks delayed until 2021
Leslie Hook in London
The UN climate talks set to take place in Glasgow in November will be postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus, delaying a round of new global climate commitments.
The talks, which would have been one of the biggest diplomatic summits ever hosted by the UK, will still take place in Glasgow at a date to be determined in 2021.
Alok Sharma, the president of the climate summit and secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said that coronavirus had forced the postponement.
“The world is currently facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19,” he said.
The summit, known as COP26, was set to talk place at Glasgow’s SEC Centre, however the exhibition centre was recently designated as a field hospital for patients with coronavirus.
At the climate talks, the 197 countries that approved the Paris climate agreement in 2015 were expected to bring forward new targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
US stocks slip amid coronavirus worries
US stocks stumbled and government debt rallied after Donald Trump warned of a “very painful” two weeks ahead in the fight against coronavirus.
Each of Wall Street’s three main indices lost 4.4 per cent, with financials and technology shares contributing to pressure on the benchmark S&P 500.
Bank shares struggled, following European peers lower, after some of the UK’s largest lenders scrapped dividends amid pressure from the Bank of England and the economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic. The KBW index, which tracks US-listed shares in major banks, was down 6.9 per cent.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell 8 basis points to 0.62 per cent. Yields fall as prices rise.
Remittances to Mexico could fall by 17 per cent
Jude Webber in Mexico City
Mexico could this year suffer a 17 per cent fall in remittances – which last year hit a record of $36bn – because of the coronavirus crisis, dealing a severe blow to millions of Mexicans and to the states of Michoacán, Oaxaca and Zacatecas, for whom remittances make up more than 10 per cent of GDP, according to a study by BBVA.
Remittances fell for nine straight quarters during the financial crisis, a drop of 21 per cent on an annualized basis, it noted. Not until 2016 did remittances overtake the previous record set in 2007.
BBVA economists said, however, that when the Covid-19 crisis is over, there could be a sharp economic acceleration meaning it might not take a decade to recover this time.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador regularly hails remittances as one of the supports to the economy and the Mexicans who send them from the US as “living heroes”.
Wall Street extends drop, S&P falls 5%
US stocks extended their losses in the final hour of trade amid renewed fears about the economic toll from the coronavirus outbreak and a sell-off in bank stocks.
The S&P 500 fell as much as 5.2 per cent with utilities and financials leading the decline on the benchmark index. The Nasdaq Composite declined 5 per cent as well, while the Russell 2000 index of small cap stocks fell 7.2 per cent.
President Donald Trump late on Tuesday warned of a “painful” two weeks ahead.
The yield on the US 10-year slid 8.8 basis points to 0.6113 per cent. Yields move inversely to price.
Amundi proposes halting dividend amid Covid-19 impact
Owen Walker in London
Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, has proposed suspending its dividend payment, becoming the first big global investment company to take such a move.
The French group, which is 70 per cent owned by lender Credit Agricole, said it was responding to recommendations made by the European Central Bank last week. The proposal will be put to a shareholder vote at the company’s annual meeting on May 12.
Amundi’s share price is down more than 32 per cent since hitting its all-time high of €78 on February 19. The group was formed by the merger of the asset management arms of French banks Credit Agricole and Societe Generale 10 years ago and listed in 2015.
The announcement comes a day after Britain’s five largest banks agreed to withhold their 2019 dividends following pressure from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority.
Shareholders and regulators have been calling on businesses to hold off dividend payments as they wait for the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic to subside.
Amundi stressed that it still had a strong capital position, with a tier one capital ratio of 15.9 per cent at the end of 2019, and that it would announce later in the year how it would distribute the 2019 payment to shareholders.
The fund manager had raised its dividend to €3.10 in February following two consecutive quarters of inflows.
Coming up tomorrow: A live Q&A on the UK’s rescue package
In response to the economic threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic, the UK government last week unveiled a £330bn package of bailout loans alongside an extraordinary offer of wage subsidies. But the speed of the response has left banks, regulators and Treasury officials scrambling to find ways to get the money to the companies that need it most.
Dan Thomas, the FT’s chief business correspondent, will be answering your questions about the rescue package in a live Q&A tomorrow. Click here to join the conversation.
Two-thirds of old people’s homes in eastern France hit by virus
Victor Mallet in Paris
Two-thirds of old people’s homes in eastern France have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and 570 residents have died from the disease in the Grand Est region alone, according to regional health authorities cited by French media.
Those 570 people are not recorded in France’s official coronavirus death toll, which has reached 4,032 but so far counts only those who have died in hospital. Eastern France was the first region to be badly hit by the pandemic, but hospitals in the Paris region are now also at risk of being overwhelmed by patients needing intensive care.
The Grand Est region is the first in France to give numbers for deaths in old people’s homes. It said 411 of the region’s 620 homes had been affected by the virus. Nationwide, some 7,000 such institutions care for nearly 700,000 people who are typically in their 80s or 90s and in many cases suffer from dementia.
Covid-19’s mortality rate from Covid-19 rises sharply in old age, and thousands of elderly people are estimated to have died across western Europe from coronavirus in the past month.
France’s daily death toll rises above 500
Victor Mallet in Paris
A further 509 coronavirus patients died in French hospitals in the past 24 hours, the country’s highest daily death toll to date, according to Jérôme Salomon, director-general of health. France’s death toll from coronavirus is now 4,032.
However, the official data – which excludes deaths in old people’s homes or in apartments and houses – showed that the increase in numbers of those hospitalised and needing intensive care appeared to be stabilising below 10 per cent per day after more than two weeks of confinement of the population.
A total of 56,989 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed by tests in France. The number of those in hospital rose on Wednesday to 24,639, and those in intensive care reached 6,017. Before the crisis, France had only 5,000 intensive care beds, but it is rapidly increasing capacity and hopes to reach 14,000 beds in the coming weeks.
France has also moved more than 300 seriously ill patients from overburdened hospitals in regions such as the east of the country by train, aircraft and ambulance to other hospitals with spare capacity.
Olivier Véran, health minister, said the country had now ordered more than 1.5bn masks, most of which will come from China, to supply hard-pressed doctors, nurses, carers and non-medical workers who need them for protection in dealings with the public.
Elizabeth Warren calls on food delivery start-ups to reclassify workers
Lauren Fedor in Washington
Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts and former presidential candidate, has written to the chief executives of DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and Instacart, calling on them to reclassify their food delivery workers as “employees” rather than “independent contractors”.
Ms Warren said the food delivery companies were excluding their workers from “critical labour rights and protections” by categorising them as independent contractors.
“Delivery workers are experiencing serious health and economic vulnerabilities as a result of their jobs, and your company is failing to provide appropriate and necessary protections,” Sen. Warren wrote to the tech bosses, urging them to give workers “at least” 14 days of paid leave for family or medical leave, and provide protective equipment free of charge.
The progressive senator has repeatedly called for more sweeping protections for “gig economy” workers. But the spread of Covid-19 has reignited debates over how to regulate tech companies that rely on independent contractors, especially as demand increases for delivery services as many Americans are forced to stay at home.
Earlier this week, workers for Instacart, the grocery delivery service, walked off the job, demanding hazard pay and hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes for completing their work.
Istanbul accounts for more than half of Turkey’s 15,700 cases
Laura Pitel in Ankara
Istanbul is the epicentre of Turkey’s coronavirus outbreak, the country’s health minister has revealed as he unveiled the regional distribution of cases for the first time.
The sprawling metropolis of 15.5m people has 8,852 confirmed cases of Covid-19, Fahrettin Koca announced in a press conference on Wednesday night. The figure represents more than half the national total of roughly 15,700 cases. The coastal city of Izmir and the capital city of Ankara have the second- and third-biggest coronavirus clusters, the new figures showed.
Following the announcement, Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, repeated his call for the central government to impose a full lockdown of the city.
Florida and Pennsylvania tell residents to stay at home
Florida and Pennsylvania have become the latest US states to tell residents to stay at home in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced a statewide stay-at-home order that will take effect Thursday at midnight and last 30 days. Florida said its confirmed Covid-19 cases approached 7,000 and its death toll climbed to 87.
Pennsylvania, which already had a stay-at-home order in place for 33 counties, expanded it to include the entire state. The Keystone State has 5,805 confirmed cases and the death toll has climbed to 74.
Both states are urging residents to stay at home except to commute for essential jobs or activities, like purchasing food or medicine.
Death toll in Ireland reaches 85
Arthur Beesley in Dublin
Dublin has reported 14 new coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of fatalities in the Irish republic to 85. The Northern Ireland authorities reported two further deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total there to 30 and the overall number on the island of Ireland to 115.
The health department in Dublin reported 212 new Covid-19 infections, with 3,447 people in the republic now being treated for the disease. Northern Ireland detected 103 new cases, bringing the total in the region to 689.
S&P 500 slides more than 4%
US stocks fell near session lows in afternoon trading, extending a sell-off that came as investors reacted to White House projections on the toll inflicted by coronavirus.
The S&P 500 was down 4.1 per cent with declines across real estate and utilities – considered defensive sectors for equity investors – as well as the financial sector, which was down 6 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.8 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.8 per cent.
Investors sought safety in the form of US government debt. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank 7 basis points to 0.63 per cent. Yields fall as prices rise.
Gold was also higher, rising 0.6 per cent.
Israel sends in police as riots break out over restrictions
Mehul Srivastava in Tel Aviv
Israeli police battled scattered riots in the Arab and ultra-orthodox suburbs of Tel Aviv, as the two religious minorities chafed under a weeks-long partial lockdown that has destroyed their livelihoods and radically changed their way of life.
Riot police marched through the main thoroughfare in Jaffa, an Arab-heavy neighborhood south of Tel Aviv, as rioters burned tyres and blocked traffic with flaming dumpsters, and police helicopters hovered over Bnei Brak, a suburb north of Tel Aviv that is home to a predominantly ultra-orthodox Jewish population that has refused to stop weddings, funerals and public prayers.
Israeli officials have struggled to convince the ultra-orthodox to respect both social distancing and the closures of public places, including synagogues, as the communities leaders, mostly ageing Rabbis with little contact with the outside world, have delayed adopting nationwide strictures.
That has led to a surge in new Covid-19 infections amongst the cloistered religious community, with government officials considering options that range from closing off the neighborhoods entirely to removing infected patients to government-run quarantine facilities to reduce the possibility of infecting their large families.
Arab residents of Jaffa and the north of Israel have largely followed government instructions to close businesses and stay indoors, but have taken greater hits to their income because many of them work in the informal sector and do not easily qualify for unemployment benefits that some 25 percent of Israelis are currently claiming.
23 people have died of Covid-19 in Israel, and nearly 6,000 have been infected.
Ukraine’s president invokes parallel to Chernobyl disaster in bid to keep people home
Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv
In a bid to motivate citizens to stay home and uphold a sweeping quarantine, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has drawn a parallel between the global novel coronavirus pandemic and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power station accident north of Kyiv.
In a televised address to the nation late Wednesday, he reminded viewers how Soviet leadership concealed the disaster from the world and even held a parade in downtown Kyiv.
“You know there is a known fact that after the Chernobyl accident, the authorities were gathering people for a May Day demonstration. No one was afraid at the time, because the radiation was invisible,” Mr Zelensky said.
“The coronavirus is also invisible … but on the contrary, we ask you to stay home,” he added in comments stressing the dangers of Covid-19.
Ukraine currently has 669 confirmed cases, including 17 fatalities. Low level of testing has fueled suspicions that infection rates are higher.
Pointing to an expected peak of novel coronavirus infections in mid-April, Mr Zelensky earlier on Wednesday held discussions with aides about “more strict measures” including enforced lockdowns and obligatory use of medical masks for those that venture out.
Ukraine imposed sweeping travel restrictions and social distancing measures in mid-March to prevent a spike of infections which could overwhelm its dilapidated healthcare system.
The country closed down restaurants, malls, public transportation and regular passenger flights, and urged most citizens to stay home while allowing them to visit grocery stores and pharmacies if wearing medical masks.
Russians face prison for breaking quarantine under new laws
Max Seddon in New York
Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed new laws mandating prison time for Russians found to have broken coronavirus quarantine or who spread “fake news” about the pandemic.
Russians who violate the restrictions face up to two years in prison, rising to seven if their actions cause the deaths of two or more people, or if they do so “to deliberately infect people en masse”.
The law also mandates up to five years in prison for people who “publicly spread false information in the guise of accurate reporting of information in the public interest” if doing so harms people’s health, but it does not specify what this means.
Russia’s internet censor has already forced 44 websites to delete articles it claimed carried “fake news” about the coronavirus pandemic.
New York City playgrounds to close
Joshua Chaffin in New York
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will further clamp down on daily life by closing down New York City’s playgrounds.
Mayor Bill de Blasio had hoped they could be kept open with police enforcing social distancing measures. But, according to the governor, that effort was not successful. Open spaces in public parks will remain open, he added.
Turning his attention to the shortage in medical equipment, Mr Cuomo said it is a “real cruel twist of fate” that China is now the main manufacturer of ventilators and other medical equipment that New York and other states are desperately trying to acquire. “It all comes back to China,” he said.
New York death toll nears 2,000
Joshua Chaffin in New York
The latest New York numbers, from Governor Andrew Cuomo, revealed the number of coronavirus deaths jumped by 391 to 1,941 statewide, while total cases now stand at 83,712, including more than 47,000 in New York City.
Based on the latest models, Mr Cuomo believes the apex will come at the end of April, “which means another month of this”, he said.
Bernie Sanders calls on Wisconsin to delay next week’s presidential primary
Lauren Fedor in Washington
Bernie Sanders has called for Wisconsin to delay its presidential primary, which is set to go ahead next week despite public health concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus.
More than a dozen states have already delayed their primaries to May or June as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
“People should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote, which is why 15 states are now following the advice of public health experts and delaying their elections,” Mr Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. “We urge Wisconsin to join them.”
Mr Sanders, the Vermont senator, is trailing Joe Biden, the former vice-president, in terms of delegates ahead of this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. Mr Biden told MSNBC, the cable news channel, on Tuesday he doubted the nominating convention would go ahead as planned given worries about the novel coronavirus, saying: “It’s hard to envision that.”
Mr Sanders said Wisconsin should delay its elections, planned for Tuesday, April 7, extend early voting and take steps to ensure all eligible voters can cast their ballots by post.
“While we wait for a decision, we urge our supporters to vote-by-mail,” Mr Sanders said.
Mr Sanders, 78, and Mr Biden, 77, have both suspended in-person campaigning as US cities and states enforce social distancing measures. The candidates have relied instead on media appearances and live-streamed statements, press conferences and Q&A sessions with voters.
Italy awaits clear sign of peak infections as death toll ticks higher
Miles Johnson in Rome
A further 727 people have died in Italy from the Covid-19 virus in the last 24 hours as the country’s government nervously waits for a clear sign that the level of infections has started to peak.
The total number of diagnosed cases in Italy grew by 4.5 per cent from Tuesday to Wednesday to 110,574, a slight acceleration from two previous days when daily growth had been closer to 4 per cent.
The total number of cases diagnosed is a function of testing, meaning daily numbers have proven volatile since the outbreak began. Some Italian regions, notably Veneto in the north, have tested a significantly higher number of their population than others due to initiatives by their regional authorities.
The total number of dead in Italy now stands at 13,155, the highest of any country in the world. The number of patients who have recovered from the virus increased by 1,118 to 16,847, while the total number in intensive care rose by 12 to 4,035. Active cases, which do not include the dead or recovered, rose by 2,937 to 80,572.
The Italian government this week officially confirmed it was extending its lockdown from an original end date of the start of April to at least Easter as it looks for confirmation that the number of new cases is declining before deciding its first steps in reopening the country’s economy and public life.
UK government warns banks over support for small businesses
Robert Shrimsley in London
Banks were warned by business secretary Alok Sharma that it would be “completely unacceptable” if they were not giving the promised help to small businesses.
Responding to reports of viable companies facing unreasonable demands from banks in return for vital loans, Mr Sharma said:
It will be completely unacceptable if any banks were unfairly refusing funds to any good businesses.
He added that the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, would be coming forward with more tweaks to the coronavirus loans scheme in the coming days in response to concerns being voiced by businesses. He also reminded banks that they had benefited from help during the financial crisis and needed to respond now to help other businesses.
Ethiopia postpones landmark national elections due to coronavirus
David Pilling in London
Ethiopia’s eagerly awaited parliamentary elections have become the latest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic after the east African country’s electoral commission said the vote could no longer be held in August.
The elections would have pitted prime minister Abiy Ahmed’s new Prosperity party against a fragmented but vocal opposition in what would have been his first electoral test since being appointed premier in 2018 and winning the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
The electoral commission said it would no longer be possible to hold the elections because of coronavirus restrictions, which would make it impossible to conduct voter registration and election officer training in time.
The commission said it would re-evaluate the election timetable once the crisis was over.
Russia to track Covid-19 patients
Max Seddon, Moscow correspondent
Russia will track citizens through their phones and require mobile operators to send data on people who violate quarantine to law enforcement.
Maksut Shadaev, Russia’s communication minister, said on Wednesday that Russia would match medical information with mobile phone numbers to track whether coronavirus patients or people in contact with them were adhering to self-isolation protocol.
“If the citizens don’t adhere to the conditions [of quarantine], we send them a text. If the violations are systematic, then operators will hand over the data to law enforcement,” Mr Shadaev said, according to Interfax.
Mr Shadaev claimed that the move did not violate Russia’s personal data laws because “phone numbers are not personal data”.
Merkel extends Germany’s social distancing guidelines till mid-April
Guy Chazan in Berlin
Angela Merkel has announced that the current draconian restrictions on social contact in Germany will be extended till April 19th, as the authorities seek to slow down the spread of coronavirus.
The measures, which include a ban on gatherings of more than two people, were initially announced on March 23 and were supposed to last for two weeks. They will now be extended for another fortnight.
Ms Merkel said the restrictions were having a “mild effect” but “we’re far from being able to say that we can change the restrictions on contact”.
She said she understood it would be difficult for Germans to abide by the rules at Easter, traditionally a time when people go on trips, visit relatives and attend religious services. But she said “pandemics do not recognise holidays”. “Stay strong and stick to the rules,” she said.
She was speaking after a phone conference with the leaders of Germany’s 16 regions where the shutdown was discussed.
The chancellor said that on the Tuesday after Easter, the government would reassess the situation, using data from the Robert Koch Institut, which is advising the authorities on how to combat coronavirus.
In a statement, the chancellor and the regional leaders said the “dynamic of the spread of Sars-CoV-2 in Germany is still too high. So we must continue to do everything we can to reduce the speed of the infection and maintain the capacity of our health system. The reduction of contact plays a decisive role in this”.
Wimbledon becomes latest sporting event to be axed
Murad Ahmed in London
The Wimbledon tennis championships have been cancelled this year due to public health concerns, the latest big sporting event to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, the 152-year-old institution which organises the Championships, said on Wednesday it was forced to call off the “Grand Slam” tennis tournament due to begin in June for the first time since the Second World War.
In a statement, the AELTC said:
With the likelihood that the Government’s measures will continue for many months, it is our view that we must act responsibly to protect the large numbers of people required to prepare The Championships from being at risk – from the training of ball boys and girls to thousands of officials, line judges, stewards, players, suppliers, media and contractors who convene on the AELTC Grounds – and equally to consider that the people, supplies and services legally required to stage The Championships would not be available at any point this summer, thus ruling out postponement.
Those who have bought tickets for this summer’s tournament will be offered refunds and gain the chance to buy seats for the 2021 event. In recent days, Wimbledon officials analysed their insurance policies and believe they will be able to recoup the vast majority of financial losses from cancellation, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
Kroger sales surge in March as customers stockpile
US grocer chain Kroger said its comparable sales rose 30 per cent in March, driven by consumers that stockpiled in preparation for shutdowns as the coronavirus pandemic intensified.
America’s biggest supermarket chain said customer behaviour began to shift in the last few days of February and then surged in March with broad-based demand across grocery and fresh produce departments. Kroger said:
This was driven by dramatically heightened demand in the middle of the month as customers were stockpiling, which then tapered, but remained higher than normal in the final week, as customers adjusted to the new dining, work and travel restrictions.
The Cincinnati-based company borrowed $1bn under its revolving credit facility on March 18. It also said it would pause additional share buybacks, having already repurchased $355m shares during the quarter.
Kroger shares rose 5 per cent on Wednesday and are up 8 per cent year-to-date.
Drinks group Constellation will not sue Mexico over brewery fiasco
Jude Webber in Mexico City
Constellation Brands, the US drinks group whose partially-built $1.4bn Mexican brewery is being scrapped in the midst of the crisis after a “people’s poll”, has agreed not to take legal action, the country’s president has said.
“We’re on the way to finding a solution, it was a good meeting,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told his daily news conference, referring to a meeting with Constellation executives on Tuesday.
He said the company was discussing “constructive” alternatives with the government and that one option was to seek other locations. No comment was immediately available from Constellation.
The scrapped investment – $900m has already been invested and the plant is two-thirds built – has alarmed Mexico’s business community, who fear Latin America’s second-biggest economy will contract as much as 7 per cent this year because of the coronavirus and oil price shocks, with huge job losses. They believe the decision to scrap the plant will deter other investors fearing weak Mexican rule of law.
Mr López Obrador said, however, that Mexico would be “less affected than others … because we have an income distribution policy that they don’t have everywhere”.
The president, who will announce his coronavirus rescue plans on Sunday, ruled out tax breaks for now despite orders to lock down for a month to stop the spread of the virus. He has ruled out calls from business people for tax delays as they struggle to pay staff despite economic activity being halted.
General Motors sees falling US sales as coronavirus hits auto industry
Claire Bushey in Chicago
US sales for car manufacturer General Motors slipped 7 per cent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, as faltering demand due to coronavirus hits the auto industry.
The largest US automaker reported selling 618,335 vehicles between January and March of this year.
Analysts had forecast that GM’s US sales would fall by 6.2 per cent, the least of the Detroit automakers. Fiat Chrysler’s numbers, reported earlier this morning, showed US auto sales fell by 10.4 per cent, and analysts predicted Ford, which has not yet released its sales data, would see sales drop by 16.1 per cent.
Demand has dropped as consumers stay home, often under the orders of state and local governments. While dealerships in many states are designated as “essential”, allowing them to remain open despite stay-at-home orders, GM is emphasizing its online sales program.
Kurt McNeil, US vice president for sales operations said the company and dealer network are “offering concierge service, providing courtesy transportation to customers in need and offering home delivery where permissible”.
UK needs an “exit strategy” for lockdown — former Bank of England governor
Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, has criticised the idea of an extended lockdown and called for the government to come up with a plan to ease restrictions.
Speaking at an online event for Policy Exchange, Lord King said:
The idea that we can simply maintain this lockdown for months and months on end according to the development of the virus is unrealistic. I think that the Government needs to find an exit strategy, which is going to be gradual and it may need to examine methods by which those people who have had the virus are able to travel and go to work.
Uefa eases financial regulations for European football teams
Murad Ahmed in London
Uefa, European football’s governing body, has suspended so-called “financial fair play” regulations designed to stop clubs overspending on players, as teams face a cash crunch due to the coronovirus outbreak.
The impact of the pandemic could force football fixtures to be suspended across the continent. Uefa decided to also postpone national team matches due to be played in June, after a meeting of its members on Wednesday.
The governing body decided to suspend its FFP regulations, which force clubs to break even or face penalties, such as bans from European competitions. But with no matches, teams have faced a catastrophic loss of income.
Players at Europe’s richest clubs, such as Spain’s FC Barcelona, Italy’s Juventus and Germany’s Bayern Munich, have accepted pay cuts and wage deferrals in response.
Uefa said: “As a result of the increasing uncertainty generated by the ongoing extraordinary events, the executive committee also decided to suspend the [FFP] club licensing provisions that relate to the preparation and assessment of clubs’ future financial information.”
The decision applies from next season, meaning existing FFP sanctions, such as Manchester City’s two-year ban from the Champions League, will continue to apply. The English Premier League is appealing the ban.
British Transport Police reports first arrest for lockdown breach
Chris Tighe in Newcastle
Police have made their first arrest on Britain’s railway system under new coronavirus legislation, fining a woman for violating the lockdown restrictions.
Marie Dinou, from York in northern England, will have to pay £800 after she would not tell police why she was travelling, according to the British Transport Police who arrested her on Saturday at Newcastle Central railway station.
Assistant Chief Constable Sean O’Callaghan said:
Enforcement of any sort under the new regulations really is a last resort, especially arrest.
US manufacturing sector defies forecasts for steep March slowdown
Manufacturing activity in the US fell to a three-month low in March, with a contraction less severe than economists had forecast, suggesting some near-term resilience from the sector in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 last month from 50.1 in February, its lowest level since December. The reading was comfortably above the median forecast of 45 that was pencilled in by Wall Street analysts. Readings above 50 indicate the sector is expanding.
Trouble may still lie ahead for the sector, which spent August to December of last year in contraction.
“Comments from the panel were negative regarding the near-term outlook, with sentiment clearly impacted by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and energy market volatility. The PMI returned to contraction territory, and with a negative trajectory,” Timothy Fiore, ISM chair, said in a statement.
The US data contrast a string of manufacturing readings from elsewhere around the world on Wednesday that pointed to sharp slowdowns, with activity in Japan, South Korea and the UK also falling into contraction territory. Manufacturing activity in China, where the coronavirus pandemic began, stabilised in March, according to a survey earlier today from Caixin-Markit.
Fifteen minutes before the release of the ISM’s survey, the final US manufacturing purchasing managers index prepared by IHS Markit was shown to have sunk to 48.5 last month, down from an initial ‘flash’ estimate of 49.2 and lower than the 50.7 registered in February. This was the fastest rate of decline since August 2009.
“Growing numbers of company closures and lockdowns as the nation fights the COVID-19 outbreak mean business levels have collapsed,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said. “While some producers reported being busier as a result of stockpiling and anti-virus activities, notably in the food and healthcare sectors, these are very much the minority, and most sectors reported a rapid deterioration in demand and production.”
Germany tests 50,000 a day
By Tobias Buck in Berlin
German laboratories are currently conducting more than 50,000 coronavirus tests a day, according to data released by the Robert Koch Institute on Wednesday.
The Institute, which is in charge of coordinating Germany’s public health response to the pandemic, said the total number of tests conducted since the start of the crisis had reached at least 918,460. It said that number was likely to be revised upwards as some laboratories had yet to pass on testing data from earlier weeks.
Over the past week, Germany conducted 354,521 coronavirus tests, a small increase on the 348,619 carried out the week before. Some health officials have estimated the weekly testing rate to be even higher, suggesting Germany was conducting as many as 500,000 a week.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, last week’s test data was based on information from 143 laboratories, while the previous week’s involved data from 176 laboratories. It was not immediately clear whether this mismatch had affected the overall count.
Nine per cent of those tested for coronavirus last week tested positive.
UK begins testing a possible Covid-19 treatment
Hannah Kuchler in New York
Gilead Sciences has launched two new trials of its drug remdesivir in the UK as part of a global effort to see if the treatment originally developed for Ebola could be used against coronavirus.
Some 15 hospitals will help run the trial on patients with moderate to severe Covid-19, in locations including London, Liverpool and Edinburgh, giving some UK patients access to the possible treatment.
The trials by the US biotech company have been prioritised under a public health emergency status. Dr Siu Ping Lam, director of the licensing division of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said:
We have dedicated resources to ensure this happens, as we did during the Ebola crisis when we authorised clinical trial applications within a week.
Remdesivir is already being explored in large trials around the world, including one run by the US National Institute of Health, and another by the World Health Organisation.
Private school group GEMS offers fee cuts to struggling parents in UAE
Simeon Kerr in Dubai
GEMS, one of the largest private education providers in the world, has offered to defer school fee payments in the United Arab Emirates if parents are struggling to pay “as a direct result of the Covid-19 outbreak”.
The Dubai-based company in a letter to parents said it would apply a “means-tested approach” to the relief programme. The company will offer fee deferments, payment plans and discounts for families who have lost jobs, been placed on unpaid leave or had salary cuts because of the impact of the virus, a spokesperson said.
GEMS said this would “allow us to allocate our relief efforts to those most in need during these unprecedented times, while retaining all of our teachers and managing our costs,” the letter said.
Smaller school operators in the UAE are offering discounts of 10-50 per cent on summer term fees as the economic impact of coronavirus bites.
In the UAE, where state schools are generally reserved for nationals, school fees form a major chunk of the living costs of expatriate residents, many of whom are being laid off or furloughed as demand declines in the tourism, retail and aviation sectors.
Rolls-Royce and Airbus lobby UK over Virgin Atlantic bailout
Tanya Powley, Peggy Hollinger and Jim Pickard in London
Two of the world’s biggest aerospace manufacturers are lobbying the government on behalf of Virgin Atlantic as the airline seeks a £500m bailout package of commercial loans and guarantees to survive the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Rolls-Royce and Airbus have sent letters to Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, highlighting the importance of Virgin Atlantic to the UK’s manufacturing supply chain. London’s Heathrow Airport is also understood to have sent a letter to the government on behalf of the airline.
It comes as the airline on Tuesday made its submission to the government for a package of financial support of about £500m, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Coronavirus impacts hit US auto sales in first quarter
Claire Bushey in Chicago
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic sent first-quarter US auto sales at Fiat Chrysler down 10.4 per cent, slightly more than analysts had forecast.
The carmaker reported 446,768 vehicles between January and March compared with 498,425 for the same period a year earlier. Retail sales comprised just over two-thirds of those sales, while fleets made up the rest.
Analysts expected sales to fall by 9.9 per cent. The company said the “strong momentum” of the first two months of the year was offset by March, when many states told residents to stay at home to slow the spread of the virus.
US hospitals face ventilator drugs shortage
Hannah Kuchler in New York
US demand for drugs that sedate patients to help them cope with the breathing tubes soared this month, according to data from Vizient, a healthcare services company that works with half of American hospitals.
As orders have increased, the proportion that have been fulfilled has dropped, implying that wholesalers do not have enough supplies to meet hospitals’ requests.
There was a 51 per cent increase in demand for sedatives and anaesthetics in March, compared to the same period in January, before coronavirus hit the US. Now, only 63 per cent of these orders have been fulfilled. For analgesics, a kind of painkiller, demand rose by 67 per cent. Orders for neuromuscular blockers, which relax muscles, rose 39 per cent.
News you might have missed
Just after 09.45am in New York, here’s a round-up of all the latest news on the corronavirus pandemic.
The outbreak’s death toll has risen by more than 4,000 people in a single day for the first time. The US is struggling to contain the spread of the virus, adding another daily record of 24,742 cases on Tuesday. Spain now has more than 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, while the UK’s death toll has jumped by more than 500.
Brussels is planning to tap international capital markets to raise cash for a €100bn fund to finance short-term working schemes in the economies worst hit by the pandemic.
Surveys of manufacturing activity across the eurozone have shown the largest fall in output since the financial crisis amid collapsing demand due to lockdowns and disruption to production chains.
Japan will close its borders to foreigners from 73 different countries, including the US and UK, and require all other arrivals to isolate themselves for two weeks in its latest measures to control the coronavirus.
The UK government is under fire again for its lack of testing. Robert Jenrick, communities secretary, acknowledged that there is a need to go “further” and “faster” in the number of people being tested for the virus.
British American Tobacco, the maker of Lucky Strike and Camel cigarettes, has entered the fray of companies trying to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, hoping to produce up to 3m doses per week in two months’ time.
Wall Street tumbles at start of quarter after warning on virus toll
A new quarter brought a fresh jolt of volatility to global equity markets on Wednesday, with Wall Street opening down as the coronavirus crisis worsened in the US and pressure on economies around the world mounted.
The S&P 500 fell 3.7 per cent as trading began, with banks and technology stocks particularly hard hit. The Nasdaq Composite declined 3.1 per cent.
The yield on the US 10-year was US Treasuries, viewed as a haven during times of market uncertainty, slipped 0.10 percentage points to 0.595 per cent. Yields fall as bond prices rise.
UK death count climbs by more than 550 in steepest daily rise
The Covid-19 death toll in the UK rose by 563 in just 24 hours as the coronavirus outbreak in the country worsens.
The number of people diagnosed with the disease who died in hospital reached 2,352 by 5pm on Tuesday, government data show.
Confirmed coronavirus cases rose by more than 4,000 to 29,474 as of 9am on Wednesday, according to the Department for Health. Figures on diagnosed cases and fatalities are reported on separate timescales.
Data released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics suggested the number of deaths from coronavirus may be higher than those the government currently publishes in its daily updates due to people dying outside of the hospital setting.
UK government admits 2,000 NHS staff have been tested out of 500,000
Sebastian Payne in London
Downing Street held its daily briefing with political journalists — covering the ongoing issues in the UK such as testing capacity, protective equipment for health service staff and the state of the economy.
Here are the highlights from the prime minister’s spokesperson:
– Just 2,000 frontline staff in the National Health Service have been tested for coronavirus, out of half a million who work for NHS England. In total, 1.3m people work for the health service in England.
– The government is still working to increase testing capacity, which currently stands at 12,750 per day. On Monday March 30, 8,630 tests were carried out across the UK. No10 said “a clear instruction” had been sent to all hospital trusts that “when there is capacity available, it should be used to test frontline staff. We expect that to happen.”
– No10 said it remains important to ensure any new tests for the virus – including antibody tests – are thoroughly verified as accurate.
– On whether wider testing is part of the UK’s exit strategy from the stringent lockdown and social distancing measures, the spokesperson said. “It’s our intention to significantly increase testing, PM set that out very clearly. In terms of the measures, we’ve said we’ll review them in two weeks.”
– No10 said more PPE equipment has been delivered – including 600,000 ventilation masks and 4.18m surgical face masks
– The Cabinet is continuing to use Zoom for its meetings, despite concerns raised by some government departments about its security. No10 said that the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office were satisfied it was secure enough.
– No other Cabinet ministers are self-isolating with signs of coronavirus. Mark Sedwill, cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, is also “absolutely fine”.
– UK debt will soar due to the coronavirus crisis. The Debt Management Office borrowed £49bn in April – £29bn more than expected. Work is well underway at the Treasury looking into how to fund the grand economic schemes announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak over the last fortnight.
Wall Street on track to slide at the open
With just under an hour to the opening bell on Wall Street, futures trade is pointing to a sharp drop in US stocks.
S&P 500 futures indicate a 3.5 per cent fall when second quarter trading begins in New York.
Despite a slight recovery at the end of March, the S&P 500 fell 21 per cent in the first quarter as the spread of coronavirus wreaked havoc in the corporate world.
In Europe the continent-wide Stoxx 600 was recently down 3.2 per cent, with losses of 4.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent for Frankfurt’s Dax 30 and London’s FTSE 100, respectively.
Brazil’s Petrobras to cut oil output
Andres Schipani in São Paulo
Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras said it will slash oil production by a further 100,000 barrels per day, following a cut last week, to cope with the collapse in demand during the coronavirus outbreak.
“As of today, oil production will be cut by 200,000 barrels per day,” the company said in a statement, “due to the contraction of oil and oil products demand”.
A week ago, the company said it was cutting oil production by 100,000 barrels per day and delaying a dividend payment. One of Latin America’s largest oil producers also said it will defer payment of up to 30 per cent of the salaries of top executives and managers.
US private sector sheds 27,000 jobs in March
The US private sector shed far fewer jobs than expected in March before the coronavirus pandemic really started to weigh on the American economy and labour market.
Non-farm private employers cut 27,000 jobs last month — the first decline since September 2017, payroll processor ADP said. That was shallower than expectations for a cut of 150,000.
However, the report only looks at data through March 12 before the number of virus related deaths and confirmed cases in the US jumped and before several states ordered non-essential businesses to close. Actual losses are expected to be far worse, with data last week showing a record 3.3m Americans filed for jobless benefits in the week ended March 21.
Small businesses that employ fewer than 50 people experienced the most losses, shedding 90,000 jobs, while medium and large businesses reported job growth.
The data comes ahead of Friday’s official non-farm payrolls report, which is also based on surveys going up to the 12th day of the month.
FT Health Newsletter: Coronavirus and the dangers of distraction
Andrew Jack and Darren Dodd
Despite the intensifying globalisation of travel, trade and information in recent years, the current pandemic — like those of the past — shows that most countries only respond to an infection when it arrives on their doorstep. While health services are understandably focused on handling the surge of patients, the pandemic response highlights at least three risky distractions.
The first is the tension between short and long-term medical responses. While in most countries the current focus is on a lockdown of people to limit the spread of infection, along with urgently improving supplies of protection equipment, respirators and test kits for frontline workers, there is a need to start reflecting on an “exit strategy”.
The second is the balance between coronavirus and existing burdensome illnesses. There are already reports of patients with cancer and other conditions receiving lower priority. High rates of childhood vaccination against preventable diseases will be difficult to sustain with prolonged social distancing. In lower-income countries, people with infections such as tuberculosis risk being turned away.
A final concern is the move away from international to domestic solidarity. Countries have closed borders, sought to restrict export of medical supplies and limited financial aid to their neighbours. But the neglect of international efforts to support or even focus on Africa and other poorer regions risks causing a disproportionate financial burden. In refugee camps, with scant medical support or even soap, the human toll could be devastating.
FT Health is a monthly guide to the big issues at the intersection of global health and finance. You can read the latest edition in full and sign up here.
Hungary’s parliament to vote on extension to government’s power
Valerie Hopkins in Budapest
Hungary’s parliament will consider a bill that would effectively give the central government control over municipalities when a state of emergency is in effect.
The draft legislation was published just days after the national parliament voted to give the government of nationalist premier Viktor Orban the power to rule by decree for an indefinite period of time.
According to the latest draft law, all mayoral decisions would need the approval of non-elected county and local officials, the majority of whom are politically appointed by Mr Orban’s Fidesz-led government.
Mr Orban enjoys a supermajority in the Hungarian parliament, which will likely approve the legislation. However, opposition parties took control of 10 of 23 of the country’s cities in October elections last year, including the capital. All 10, from different parties, vowed to work together to oppose what they see as the increasingly autocratic style of Mr Orban.
Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony has sought to build alliances with other progressive mayors across Europe. “The emergency cannot be an excuse to remove the will of voters in the election,” he said.
Greece confirms first coronavirus case in migrant camp
Erika Solomon in Berlin, Valerie Hopkins in Budapest and Kerin Hope in Athens
Greece has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in a migrant camp on the mainland, as public health workers warn of a humanitarian disaster if the highly contagious disease takes hold in the overcrowded settlements.
On Tuesday, an asylum seeker who had been living in a camp outside Athens tested positive for the virus after giving birth at a clinic. It is the first recorded case among an estimated 60,000 refugees and migrants living in camps on the eastern Aegean Islands and remote areas of mainland Greece. It is not clear where the woman contracted the virus.
Migrants describe a climate of fear as they live packed together with little water, sanitation or information about the coronavirus crisis that is raging across Europe.
“What hope do we have of defending ourselves from corona? ” said Ahmad, on the phone from a camp under lockdown in northern Greece. He shares his small living space with five other men, his cooking facilities with dozens of people, and his camp recently had no running water for 10 days.
Six people have also tested positive for coronavirus on the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 20,000-strong Moria camp that activists say is particularly ill-equipped to handle an outbreak.
Public health experts say the situation is not only a humanitarian failure, it risks undermining the fight against the pandemic in Europe.
East African nations launch joint coronavirus strategy
Donald Magomere in Nairobi
East Africa countries have agreed to join forces to tackle the looming health crisis as the rate of coronavirus infections increases in the region.
The member states of the intergovernmental authority on development (Igad) — Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda — have agreed to “pull muscles” in formulating a regional response strategy, including for internally displaced, refugees and migrants.
Two months ago the region suffered its worst desert locust invasion for 25 years, with a possibility of a second on its way, say experts.
“Kenya will contribute Ks200m towards IGAD’s anti-covid fund; further Ks100m towards the African Union Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC),” said Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenyan president.
Ethiopia has boosted its fight against the virus, where prime minister Abiy Ahmed receiving medical supplies, testing kits and protective equipment from Jack Ma, Alibaba founder.
Kenya and Uganda have imposed security curfews to contain the violence prompting police violence and mass arrests. “Security agencies should understand people need help and not punishment,” said Hassan Joho, a Kenyan official.
Kenya is expecting 10,000 new cases of coronavirus by the end of April.
“From our modeling, we may get 1,000 cases by the first week of April; 5,000 by mid-April and 10,000 by the end of that month,” said health director General Patrick Amoth.
Kenya has reported 59 positive cases with two recoveries and one death. Uganda has reported 44 cases and Ethiopia 26 cases.
UK to guarantee pay for almost 8,000 postmasters
Jonathan Eley in London
The UK’s state-owned Post Office said that almost 8,000 independent postmasters will have their income largely guaranteed during the coronavirus outbreak.
In addition to letters and parcels the Post Office, which is separate to the privatised Royal Mail, is used by many older people and those on lower incomes to access financial services and make utility payments.
The guarantee will cover 100 per cent of both fixed and variable remuneration in April and 90 per cent of it in May, and will be calculated based on an average of monthly remuneration for the previous quarter. It applies whether or not the branch is open.
The guarantee does not include the 1,900 branches within other stores such as WHSmith, or the “outreach” branches that serve rural communities. Both have different commercial arrangements.
Only a small number of the 11,500 post offices are now operated directly by the company.
Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan told to halt attacks
Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
Commanders of the hardline Islamic State or ‘Daesh’ movement in Afghanistan have ordered their fighters to confine themselves to their camps and cease attacks as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, according to senior tribal leaders in Pakistan who regularly travel to Afghanistan.
“The coronavirus has forced them [IS commanders] to order their soldiers to stay together in groups and not be exposed [to others],” one tribal leader in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, who returned from Afghanistan on Monday, told the FT.
News of the precautions comes as aid officials familiar with Afghanistan warn against the spread of coronavirus across the war-torn country, without a centralised government in place. The Taliban control more than half of Afghan territory while other parts of the country are under the control of the US-backed government of president Ashraf Ghani.
One UN official said there was “a largely uncontrolled flow of people between Iran and Afghanistan” until about two weeks ago, before Iranian border officials restricted their movement.
“Iran has been a major epicenter [of coronavirus]. In Pakistan, more than three-quarters of those found positive travelled back from Iran … I can’t imagine this condition not spreading to Afghanistan from Iran.
In Pakistan, at least 2,000 people have tested positive for the virus and 26 people have died so far.
EU advances on test-kit reliability
Mehreen Khan in Brussels
Scientists working at the European Commission have discovered a “control material” that will allow governments to ensure Covid-19 testing kits are working correctly.
The commission on Wednesday said the EU has the capacity to test 60m testing kits after reports that a series of member states had received malfunctioning kits from China.
“This will avoid tests that give a negative result while in reality the person is positive,” said an EU spokesman.
Edinburgh Festivals cancelled
The Edinburgh Festivals will not take place this summer for the first time in more than 70 years, dealing a significant blow to the Scottish tourism industry.
The five festivals include the Edinburgh Fringe and Arts Festivals, and typically welcome more than 4m visitors to the Scottish city throughout the month of August, along with performers and artists from around the world.
The first Edinburgh Festival was staged in 1947 to help promote international unity following the second world war, and has grown into one of the world’s leading cultural events.
“This was a profoundly difficult decision– leaving a massive gap in our capital – but clearly it was the right one,” Ediburgh council’s leader and deputy leader said.
Kamal Foroughi allowed to return to UK after nine years held in Iran
Laura Hughes in London
Kamal Foroughi, the Iranian-British consultant arrested in 2011 on charges of espionage, has been allowed to return to the UK from Tehran.
Mr Foroughi, who worked for Malaysia’s Petronas, was released from detention in Tehran in late 2018. The 80-year-old was unable to return to his family in London as he waited years for his Iranian passport to be renewed.
His release comes after European countries agreed to a deal to export medical goods to Iran, in the first transaction under a new financial channel set up to shield lines of trade from US sanctions.
As Iran struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s judiciary has temporarily released about 85,000 prisoners, most of whom are charged with social crimes, but also some political prisoners who have been allowed out on licence.
Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, said:
I am pleased and very relieved that Kamal Foroughi has been able to return to the UK and be reunited with his family.
I pay tribute to Kamal and his family, who have been through a terrible ordeal, and now have the opportunity to rebuild their life together.
Officials said Mr Raab has written to Mr Foroughi to welcome him back to the UK and pass on his “best wishes”.
In a statement, Mr Foroughi’s son said:
Two weeks ago my 80-year-old dad (Grandpa) Kamal returned to London to be back with family, to see his kids and grandkids for the first time in nine years.
We’re all overjoyed that he’s with us and seems physically healthy, which feels such a relief given coronavirus worries.
London Evening Standard to furlough some staff
Mark Di Stefano in London:
George Osborne, editor of the Evening Standard and former UK chancellor, has laid out plans to furlough some staff at the newspaper because of the coronavirus outbreak.
All staff remaining who earn more than £37,500 will have a pay cut of 20 per cent, he told employees on an internal Zoom videoconferencing call.
The action comes a week and a half into an ambitious plan to home-deliver copies of the commuter newspaper.
Osborne said the Evening Standard is facing a “very serious business problem” and “we are trying to keep people in work and the newspaper alive”.
Nodding to reports he was on his way out, he added: “I am determined to lead (ESI media) through the crisis.”
Nestlé scoops up pet food brand in a rare completed deal
Judith Evans in London
Nestlé has acquired Lily’s Kitchen, an upmarket pet food brand with £85m in annual sales, in a rare example of a deal being completed at a time of crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lily’s Kitchen, founded 12 years ago, will join Nestlé’s Purina petcare division, which makes Winalot and Felix, and has been an area of growth for the global food manufacturer.
The deal, for which a price was not disclosed, is an exception to a slump in global mergers and acquisitions activity, which has reached its lowest level since 2009, according to Refinitiv data.
UK-based Lily’s Kitchen sells “natural” dog and cat food through 6,000 stores in 30 countries, having recently expanded into the Middle East and Asia.
European Commission to tap capital markets to keep workers employed
Jim Brunsden in Brussels
Brussels is planning to tap international capital markets to raise cash to fund a €100bn fund to finance short-term working schemes in the economies worst hit by the pandemic.
According to a leaked draft seen by the Financial Times, the European Commission will adopt a proposal tomorrow (Thursday) that will give it the power to raise funding on the markets, thus avoiding the need to issue “coronabonds” that have sparked divisions among governments.
“Those loans should be accorded to Member States where the COVID-19 outbreak has led to a sudden and severe increase in actual and possibly also planned public expenditure,” said the draft. “The loans issued by the Union should therefore be financed by recourse to international capital markets.”
Ms von der Leyen said that the new instrument, known by the acronym SURE, was an example of “European solidarity in action.” As reported by the Financial Times yesterday, the commission plan is that the system will be backed by guarantees from all EU national governments.
“The idea is simple — if there are no orders and companies run out of work because of a temporary external shock, like corona, they should not lay off their workers,” she said.
Ms von der Leyen said that short-term working schemes, such as Germany’s Kurzarbeit initiative, had proven their worth in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash.
“This week the European Commission will propose a new instrument to support short time work. It will help in the countries most hit and it is guaranteed by all member states,” she said.
Iran looking at using technology to help relax lockdown rules
Monavar Khalaj in Tehran
Iran’s government has said it will adopt “smart social distancing” to bring some normality to the country as the death toll has surpassed 3,000 cases.
Iran’s Health Ministry said it will re-evaluate the risks next week, before softening some social and economic restrictions imposed in recent weeks.
The government suggested technology will be used to implement the next phase of social distancing which, it said, would help some businesses resume work.
Iran’s death toll rose to 3,036 on Wednesday from 2,898 one day before.
Japan bans entry of UK and US citizens in border clampdown
Robin Harding in Tokyo
Japan will close its borders to foreigners from 73 different countries, including the US and UK, and require all other arrivals to isolate themselves for two weeks in its latest measures to control the coronavirus.
Prime minister Shinzo Abe announced the move on Wednesday evening in Tokyo after a meeting of the government’s taskforce on Covid-19. The new measures will take effect from midnight on Friday.
The decision shows the concern in east Asian countries with relatively small coronavirus outbreaks about importing cases from Europe and the US, but will come as a further blow to the beleaguered travel industry.
Entry bans will now apply to almost every country in Europe, North and South America, and much of Asia. The new list includes Israel, Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Greece, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Turkey, New Zealand, the Philippines, Brazil, the US and Vietnam.
Previously, Japan only had an outright bar on entry for certain European countries including the Schengen free movement area, Iran, and for specified regions of China and Korea. The decision is likely to prompt a rush by Japanese citizens to return home before airlines halt flights.
Exclusive: France proposes EU coronavirus rescue fund
Victor Mallet in Paris
France is pushing for a common EU fund to help Europe through the coronavirus crisis, but is proposing that it be limited to five or 10 years and focused on economic recovery to head off German and Dutch objections to mutualising debt obligations.
“We are thinking about a fund which would be limited in time with an indebtedness possibility for the long-term response to the crisis,” French finance minister Bruno Le Maire told the Financial Times.
It’s absolutely crucial to keep the door open for long-term, broad instruments that would allow us to face a ‘postwar’ economic situation.
Mr Le Maire said the idea of the fund — which would come on top of other multibillion-euro rescue packages offered or being negotiated by other EU and eurozone institutions — was derived from President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for common “coronabonds” or “eurobonds” that was supported by eight other euro area governments, but rejected by others.
UK government looks at making will writing easier as numbers surge
Lucy Warwick-Ching in London
The Ministry of Justice is looking at ways to make writing wills easier following a surge in the number of people making preparations for the end of their life during the coronavirus pandemic.
The fight against Covid-19, including social distancing and self-isolation measures, has made the will-writing process more complicated.
The Ministry of Justice is examining temporary legislative measures that could help, such as reducing the number of witnesses required and permitting video witnessing. It said, however, that care must be taken not to make changes that could lead to abuse.
Although it is possible to draft a will over the phone, for it to be valid it must be signed by two witnesses present at the same time. The witnesses must be independent and cannot be beneficiaries of the will or related to the person that the will applies to.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:
This is a delicate area of law and we absolutely must continue to protect the elderly and vulnerable against potential fraud. While there are no current plans to change the law, we will consider all options and keep this under review during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Scottish government scraps plans to suspend jury trials
Mure Dickie in Edinburgh
The Scottish government on Wednesday retreated from plans to suspend jury trials because of the coronavirus outbreak after fierce criticism from lawyers and opposition politicians.
Humza Yousaf, justice secretary, told the Scottish parliament that the plan to allow judges to decide serious cases had not secured sufficient support and would be removed from emergency coronavirus legislation expected to be passed later in the day.
Mr Yousaf said the minority Scottish National party government would now discuss with opposition parties and other groups how to prevent unacceptable delays to criminal trials, aiming to pass revised legislation next month.
The Scottish Criminal Bar Association said on Tuesday that suspending jury trials and extending the period the accused could wait until their cases were attacks on the “very cornerstone” of Scotland’s criminal justice system.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, a Liberal Democrat member of the Scottish parliament, said earlier on Wednesday that he was hopeful that opposition parties would be able to block the move.
US stocks set to slide at the open
US stock markets were set for significant losses on Wednesday, following Wall Street’s worst quarter since the financial crisis.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 pointed to declines of nearly 3 per cent at the open, following declines in Europe and Asia.
The outbreak of Covid-19 tore through financial markets in the first quarter, leaving US shares down 20 per cent for the year and erasing a record-breaking bull market in just 16 trading days.
While stimulus efforts offered some relief, investors have since refocussed on the disease’s spread.
“April is still winter for markets. President Trump warned last night of two terrible weeks ahead and estimates of a possible 100,000-240,000 US deaths from the virus have spread alarm,” Kit Juckes, strategist at Societe Generale, said.
Tour operator Tui furloughs almost all UK employees
Alice Hancock in London
Tui, the world’s largest tour operator, has put 11,000 of its UK staff on to the government’s furlough scheme as it seeks to cut costs and hibernate parts of the business amid the global travel shutdown.
Around 4,500 of the staff are employed in Tui’s retail business, which shut down following the UK government’s enforced closure of all non-essential shops last month.
The remaining 6,500 are cabin crew, pilots and other management and head office staff.
Last week, the Hanover-based company said that it was securing a €1.8bn bridging loan from the German state-owned development bank KfW in order to see it through the crisis, which has forced Tui to temporarily halt the majority of its operations including flights, holidays and cruise trips.
Tui employs 13,200 people in the UK. Staff not put onto the furlough scheme, which guarantees 80 per cent of pay up to a £2,500 cap, will remain to manage call centres and work with third party suppliers.
Belgian testing rate doubles that of UK
Jim Brunsden in Brussels
The Belgian government’s crisis centre said the country yesterday carried out its highest number of coronavirus tests since the outbreak of the pandemic.
There were 4,255 tests on Tuesday, taking the total number since the start of crisis to 57,031. The country has tested approximately 5,000 people per million of population, more than double the proportion in the UK.
“The number of tests we carry out each day is an important sign of our ability to cope with this epidemic,” said a spokesman for the crisis centre. “The number of tests being carried out is going up significantly.”
The Belgian authorities also said that 54 per cent of the country’s intensive care beds are currently occupied. A total of “1,032 beds are still available and we are seeking solutions to further boost capacity,” said the spokesman.
Spain reaches 100,000 confirmed cases
Daniel Dombey in Madrid
Spain now has over 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, while a record 864 people have died in the last 24 hours, although the rate of transmission is well off its previous peak.
The death toll released on Wednesday is the highest to date, and the fifth consecutive day of more than 800 fatalities. To date, 9,053 people have died after contracting the virus.
According to government figures, there have now been 102,136 documented cases of coronavirus in Spain. That marks an 8 per cent increase on Tuesday’s figure- well down on daily rises of 25 per cent or more earlier in the crisis.
Overall, 22,647 people have recovered from coronavirus in Spain.
UK pubs to shift into grocery sales
Alice Hancock in London
Pubs will be able to reopen as food shops under a new initiative due to launch in the UK on Wednesday.
The e-commerce platform StarStock has partnered with the food supplier Brakes, Coca-Cola Europe and the directory Use Your Local to provide pubs with the means to set up a click-and-collect service for goods such as bread, eggs and milk.
Pub operators including Admiral Taverns and Greene King, which between them run more than 2,000 pubs, have signed on to the project, while Brakes has agreed to offer its support for any of the 15,000 pubs that it supplies who want to join the scheme.
Since pubs in the UK were forced to close to slow the spread of the virus last month, many have been scrabbling to find alternative income streams or come up with ways to retain cash to see them through the crisis. The ‘My Pub Shop’ scheme will allow them to recoup some sales, while any excess profits will go to the NHS.
It is one of a number of initiatives being put in place to save the hospitality sector, which has been hit hard by the government shutdowns.
Separately, Walkers, the snack manufacturer, has partnered with a number of restaurant groups to recreate their most popular dishes as crisp flavours with meal vouchers for future bookings inserted into each bag.
The restaurant flavours include Yo! Sushi’s katsu curry, Nando’s peri-peri chicken and Gourmet Burger Kitchen’s cheeseburger.
Germany creates €2bn fund for start-ups in financial straits
Guy Chazan in Berlin
Germany has created a €2bn fund to help small start-ups laid low by coronavirus.
Economy minister Peter Altmaier said the idea was to create a customised “start-up booster” that would expand the supply of venture capital for small tech firms.
Olaf Scholz, finance minister, said:
With this €2bn aid package we will ensure that these innovative growth sectors with many thousands of employees survive the crisis.
A survey by the German Start-ups Association said that nine out of 10 start-ups in Germany had been negatively affected by the coronavirus crisis and more than 70 per cent of them feared for their existence. Companies working in HR and tourism have been particularly hard hit.
The German government has already set up a €600bn bailout fund for companies affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and a €50bn hardship fund which dispenses direct grants to small businesses, freelancers and the self-employed. It has also promised unlimited cash to all companies facing liquidity problems, in the form of loans via KfW, the state development bank.
Meanwhile, vehicles like KfW Capital and the European Investment Fund will from now on be able to use government funds to replace private investors who give up their stakes in start-ups as a result of the crisis.
Hong Kong deal activity declines in first quarter
Primrose Riordan in Hong Kong
IPO and M&A activity in Hong Kong plunged in the first three months of the year as the coronavirus pummelled dealmaking, new data from Refinitiv showed.
Hong Kong Stock Exchange led the world in IPO proceeds last year but based on this metric it dropped to sixth place on the global IPO stock exchange rankings this quarter, taking 6.9 per cent of international proceeds, according to the data.
But the exchange continued to lead in terms of the total number of issues in the first quarter. There have been 37 IPOs and first-time listings so far this year, which is still a 2.8 per cent rise from the same period last year, so the Refinitiv data suggested a move to smaller IPOs.
In terms of M&A, the city saw a 21.8 per cent decline in announced activity to US$20.6bn compared to the same quarter last year. The number of announced deals dropped 18.7 per cent to 285 deals from the same time last year.
Italian finance minister says 6% drop in GDP ‘realistic’
Miles Johnson in Rome
Italy’s finance minister has said the country’s economy could suffer a fall of 6 per cent in gross domestic product this year as the effects of a near-total shutdown of business activities to combat the Covid-19 outbreak take their toll.
Roberto Gualtieri said that estimates of a fall in GDP of at least 6 per cent by Confindustria, Italy’s business lobby, were likely to be confirmed by the government’s own forecasts due to be published later this month. This would exceed the 5.5 per cent contraction the country suffered in 2009.
“Unfortunately, these are realistic estimates. Ours are currently being drawn up and we will publish them in the budget document, ” he said in an interview with Il Fatto Quotidiano.
At the same time we can aspire to a vigorous recovery. The more rigorous and effective we are in combating the epidemic, the sooner we can get going again.
BP to slash capital spending amid ‘brutal environment’ for oil and gas
Anjli Raval in London
BP will reduce its capital spending by 25 per cent this year amid a crude price collapse as the coronavirus outbreak cuts demand for oil.
The UK energy major said it plans to spend $12bn this year, down from initial expectations of $15bn. This includes spending $1bn less on its US shale business BPX. As a result, total oil production is likely to be lower this year versus 2019. BP is also deferring certain exploration and appraisal activities.
“We are in action to protect the financial health of BP,” said chief executive Bernard Looney in a statement on Wednesday. “This may be the most brutal environment for oil and gas businesses in decades.”
BP launched a mega divestment programme to strengthen its balance sheet after a blockbuster deal for miner BHP’s US shale assets in 2018. The company said on Wednesday it may take longer for deals to close and for BP to receive $10bn in proceeds, initially expected by the end of 2020. This could include the $5.6bn sale of BP’s Alaskan business to Hilcorp. BP said it also aims to cut costs by $2.5bn by the end of 2021, compared with 2019.
Brent crude, which traded at around $70 a barrel in January, is now at $25 a barrel, and hit its lowest price since 2002 this week.
UK regulators urge savers to ‘keep calm’ amid coronavirus volatility
Matthew Vincent in London
Britain’s financial regulators have urged savers to “keep calm” and not rush big investment decisions as the coronavirus rocks stock markets.
On Wednesday, the Pensions Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority, supported by The Money and Pensions Service, told savers to take their time before making changes to their pensions and retirement savings. It warned that fears over the impact of the pandemic on markets could make UK savers more vulnerable to scams or costly errors, such as pension transfers.
Mark Steward, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said:
Fraudsters will exploit the coronavirus to prey on anxiety and fear of savers and investors, especially those who may be vulnerable. That’s why we’re urging anyone who is thinking about transferring their pension to check who they are dealing with and only use firms authorised by the FCA.
People worried about their retirement savings are instead advised to follow a four-point plan: visit the Pensions Advisory Service website; book a Pension Wise guidance session; consult an FCA-authorised financial adviser; and protect against scams by visiting the ScamSmart website.
Tobacco makers join race to develop Covid-19 vaccine
Patricia Nilsson in London
The maker of Lucky Strike and Camel cigarettes has entered the fray of companies trying to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, hoping to produce up to 3m doses per week in two months’ time.
British American Tobacco on Wednesday said its subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing was using “proprietary, fast-growing tobacco plant technology” in pre-clinical testing on animals, making it one of more than 20 companies and public sector organisations worldwide racing to develop a vaccine.
The company said it had cloned a portion of the virus’ genetic sequence and developed a potential antigen, which induces the production of antibodies and boosts the body’s immune system. The antigen had been inserted into tobacco plants to reproduce naturally, and had after six weeks been harvested to continue testing.
“Vaccine development is challenging and complex work, but we believe we have made a significant breakthrough with our tobacco plant technology,” said BAT’s director of scientific research David O’Reilly.
In 2014, the company made headlines for developing ZMapp, a vaccine against Ebola that was used to control outbreaks in west Africa.
The FTSE 100 tobacco group said it was “exploring” partnerships with government agencies to begin testing on humans “as soon as possible”, adding the project would be carried out on a not-for-profit basis.
UK manufacturing activity slides
Bethan Staton in London
UK manufacturing activity dropped significantly following the outbreak of coronavirus, according to a closely watched survey that showed output and new orders in the sector fell at the fastest rate since 2012.
The IHS Markit final manufacturing purchasing managers index, which surveys business leaders in the sector, fell to 47.8 in March, a 3-month low down from 51.7 in February. Any reading below 50 indicates the majority of respondents reported a contraction in activity.
“The manufacturing sector was knocked sideways by the impact of Covid-19 and into contraction territory, experiencing some of the most challenging trading conditions since PMI records began,” Duncan Brock, group director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.
Businesses reported that shortages had stretched supplier delivery times to the longest in 28 years, and business optimism dropped to a historic low. Employment fell at the fastest pace since 2009.
The figure is lower than the flash reading of 48, which was released last week. That showed that other sectors have been hit even more profoundly than manufacturing: the flash composite index, including services, fell to 37.1 in March, the lowest level since the survey began in 1996.
Iran announces stimulus package will be $10bn despite US sanctions
Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said the country’s relief package to support businesses hurt by coronavirus will total $10bn in spite of US sanctions weakening the country’s economic power.
“Despite the sanctions and despite all problems and restrictions, we allocated $10bn,” he said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. This, he said, included banking loans and non-refundable financial assistance.
Mr Rouhani said that the spread of coronavirus across all Iranian provinces “without exception” had shown a decline on Tuesday. But experts say Iran may still be some weeks away from the peak of the illness.
Iran says it has started producing its own test kits at 90 laboratories across the country, as US sanctions have slowed down imports of medical provisions.
Dr Alireza Biglari, Director of the Pasteur Institute in Iran, the main research institute working to contain the spread of Covid-19, said in a video conference call that the plan was to double the number of tests per day to 20,000.
Eurozone manufacturing activity dives
Valentina Romei in London
Surveys of manufacturing activity across Europe have been published throughout the morning.
Overall, eurozone manufacturers reported the largest fall in output since the financial crisis amid collapsing demand due to lockdowns and disruption to production chains.
The IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing manager index for the eurozone fell to 44.5 in March from 49.2 in the previous month, and marginally below the initial estimates of 44.8.
The deterioration in manufacturing output was the greatest since April 2009 and was coupled with a similar fall in new orders and exports.
Eliot Kerr, economist at IHS Markit, said:
The disruption has been two-fold, causing havoc on both the demand and the supply-side.
Italy reported the fastest contraction in output across the region, largely reflecting an earlier and more extensive lockdown, but manufacturers in all major economies showed a sharp deterioration.
Manufacturers in the region are also facing significant difficulting in securing supply with the latest survey showing the average lead time deteriorated at the fastest pace in nearly 23 years of data collection.
Death toll rises by more than 4,000 in a single day for first time
Steve Bernard in London
Daily confirmed cases jumped by a fifth while the death toll rose by more than 4,000 in a single day for the first time, the latest figures show.
That is 800 more than the previous high for the increase in deaths, which was Monday’s 3,709 rise. The virus claimed 4,535 lives in 24 hours, Tuesday figures show, bringing the global total to 42,353. Diagnosed cases rose by 73,617, or a 20 per cent increase on Monday’s rise, to 860,455.
The US is struggling to contain the spread of the virus, adding another daily record of 24,742 cases on Tuesday, 4,000 more than on Monday. New York state is by far the worst affected with 75,983 cases and 1,714 deaths, putting it behind only Italy, Spain and China in number of confirmed cases.
The number of recovered cases rose by 12,730 on Tuesday, leaving a total of 178,117 free from the virus.
Russia sees first decline in new coronavirus cases in eight days
Henry Foy in Moscow
Russia announced its first daily decline in new coronavirus cases for eight days, as the death toll from the outbreak rose to 24 people.
The Russian government said on Wednesday it had recorded 440 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, and seven people had died over the past 24 hours. The total number of infections now stands at 2,777.
The first fall in new daily cases for more than a week will raise hopes that Russia’s moves late last month to close its borders and impose restrictions on internal movement has curbed the spread of the virus.
Russia has far fewer cases per capita than other major European countries, but a spike in cases over the past week led to worries that it was merely a few weeks behind the trend seen in countries like France and Germany.
Italy manufacturing activity falls at record pace
Valentina Romei in London
Italian manufacturing activity fell at its fastest pace in more than two decades in March, as all non-essential businesses were forced to stop production to try to limit the spread of the virus.
The IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for Italy tumbled to 40.3 in March from 48.7 in the month before. This is the largest monthly drop since records began in 1997.
“Overall, March data highlighted one of the worst performances of the sector on record” said Lewis Cooper, economist at IHS Markit. “With the Italian economy effectively shut down, it is unlikely that any recovery from the significant Covid-19 disruptions will be swift.”
Hyundai reports large drop in sales as pandemic upends supply chains
Song Jung-a in Seoul
Hyundai Motor reported a 21 per cent drop in sales in March compared to a year earlier as demand from overseas slowed amid the global spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The figures marked an improvement from February, when the company posted its worst performance in a decade, as domestic sales rebounded. The company’s domestic sales rose 3 per cent in March from a year earlier but its overseas sales dropped 26.2 per cent, Hyundai said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The automobile sector has been one of the hardest-hit manufacturing industries by the pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on global supply chains. Hyundai has suspended operations at seven overseas plants since last month although its seven domestic plants and four factories in China are still open. The combined production capacity of all 11 plants is 5.5m vehicles.
Shares of Hyundai Motor fell 3.72 per cent to 85,400 Won on Wednesday, in line with a 3.94 per cent drop in the benchmark Kospi Composite index.
Minister admits UK must go ‘further and faster’ on testing
Sebastian Payne in London
The UK government is under fire again for its lack of testing. Robert Jenrick, communities secretary, acknowledged that there is a need to go “further” and “faster” in the number of people being tested for the virus.
Mr Jenrick told the BBC on Wednesday: “We are seeing a slow increase but I do think it appears we are going to be moving into a phase where that will accelerate: 15,000 within a few days, 25,000 by the middle of April.”
But the minister was unable to explain why the UK has struggled compared with other countries, such as Germany, which is testing half a million a day.
“I accept that we do need to ramp up production significantly. It isn’t easy to procure the tests in a global pandemic because there is a great deal of demand,” he said.
“Some countries have proved to be more able to get tests – that is partly dependent on the manufacturing base in their own country.”
The UK is making better progress with ventilators, Mr Jenrick added, with the first batch of 30 British-made ones being delivered this week.
Auto Trader to raise funds through £200m share issue
Peter Campbell
Online car marketplace Auto Trader will issue around £200m of new shares and slash executive payouts to counter a steep fall in revenues during the coronavirus lockdown.
The FTSE 100 group will sell 46m shares, worth just under £200m at the current share price of 423p, accounting for around 5 per cent of its equity.
With car dealerships closed across the country and factories at a standstill, the group made advertising to retailers free during April and delayed payments for March by 30 days. The move, intended to ease the strain on dealerships, sees it forfeit around 80 per cent of its monthly sales for April, and potentially for longer if it waives future fees.
Half year sales to September were £186.7m, giving the group an average monthly turnover of £31.1m. In addition to the placing, the company’s board will give up half their salaries and fees, and waive their full bonuses for the financial year ending March 31.
The group has also rolled back marketing spend, and furloughed employees who have no work because of a pause to car transactions or events.
German retail sales jump following stockpiling
Martin Arnold in Frankfurt
The urge to stockpile household goods in response to the spread of coronavirus has led to a jump in German retail sales in February.
Turnover at German retailers rose 7.7 per cent year-on-year in February as people responded to the pandemic by hoarding, or as the Germans call it Hamsterkäufe, which means shopping like hamsters.
“In the corona crisis, retailers are experiencing strong demand for convenience goods,” said the federal statistics agency. “In part, the increased demand is clearly reflected by retail turnover in February.”
German retail sales rose 1.4 per cent between January and February on a calendar adjusted basis. The statistics agency reported last week that sales of disinfectant rose eight-fold at the start of March, while sales of other products, such as soap, toilet roll, flour and pasta, also surged – indicating that retail sales are likely to rise even faster for March.
Malaysia apologises for sexist advice
Primrose Riordan in Hong Kong
A Malaysian ministry has been forced to apologise after it advised women working from home due to the outbreak to wear make-up, not to “nag” their husbands and to use a cartoon-like tone of voice.
The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry’s social media pages said women should imitate the tone of voice used by doraemon, a Japanese manga cartoon.
Malaysia’s All Women’s Action Society condemned the messaging in the online poster.
“Stop this sexist messaging . . . and focus on domestic violence survivors who are at higher risk now,” the society said on Twitter.
Spain suffers biggest drop in business activity since 2012
Valentina Romei in London
Spain’s manufacturers reported the largest fall in activity since mid-2012 as the coronavirus pandemic hit production and global demand.
The IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing manager index for Spain, based on a survey of senior executives at private sector companies, dropped to 45.2 in March from 50.4 the month before, slightly above the 44 expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
A reading below 50 indicates a majority of businesses reported deteriorating activity compared to the previous month.
Output was down to the lowest level in seven years and new orders deteriorated both at home and abroad as the Covid-19 pandemic throttled demand. Manufacturers struggled to source inputs and components with average lead times deteriorating at the fastest pace in two decades.
Spain has been in lockdown since March 14 in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus that has killed the largest number of people in Europe after Italy.
Germany’s Continental sees earnings falling to zero
Joe Miller in Frankfurt
Continental, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, has said it expects adjusted earnings at its auto business to fall to zero in the first three months of the fiscal year, as it announced that 30,000 of its staff in Germany had been effectively furloughed.
The Hanover-based company scrapped its outlook for the year, saying it was experiencing “material changes and disruptions in a significant portion” of its business, and that 40 per cent of its almost 250 sites had temporarily shut down.
The company, which is in the midst of spinning off its engine making unit, had already put 20,000 jobs at risk worldwide before the coronavirus outbreak.
“In periods of crisis, financial liquidity is of top priority,” said chief executive Elmar Degenhart, who announced that the board would take a 10 per cent cut in their basic monthly pay.
To this end, we are cutting our costs, optimising our working capital and postponing projects and investments that are not urgently required until further notice.
FTSE opens 3% lower as banks slide
The FTSE 100 fell more than 3 per cent in the opening minutes of trading, weighed down by the UK’s biggest banks which have all suspended their dividends.
Shares fell across Europe, sending the composite Stoxx 600 index down 2.7 per cent.
In London, HSBC was down 7.6 per cent, while Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group fell around 5 per cent and Royal Bank of Scotland declined 3.5 per cent.
The UK’s largest lenders bowed to pressure from Britain’s top financial regulator and halted their dividends after they were warned against paying out billions of pounds to shareholders during the coronavirus pandemic.
The pound was also under pressure, slipping back below $1.24 as the US dollar strengthened along with government bonds.
News you might have missed
The Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey of business sentiment pointed to a sharp deterioration in conditions in the first quarter, with large manufacturers turning pessimistic for the first time since the start of Abenomics over seven years ago.
China has reported 130 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, in the first update of the number of people who have tested positive for the virus but show no symptoms.
News Corp Australia is suspending printing of 60 community newspapers due to a rapid decline in advertising, as the coronavirus crisis hits the local media sector.
Shares in HBSC and Standard Chartered tumbled in Asian trading on Wednesday after the banks halted dividend payments amid pressure from UK financial regulators, which had warned against paying out billions of pounds to shareholders during the coronavirus crisis.
European markets set to fall
European stocks were set to tumble at the start of the second quarter, as concerns over the spread of the coronavirus seep back into markets.
Futures pointed to losses of 3.2 per cent for London’s FTSE 100, while the Dax was 3.3 per cent lower and the Cac 40 was down 3.1 per cent.
Global stocks have rallied nearly 20 per cent since mid-March, but analysts warn those gains remain fragile while coronavirus cases continue to rise. Donald Trump has warned that nearly 250,000 people could die in the US, while the death toll mounts in Europe even as case counts flatten in Italy.
“The muted reaction in stock markets to tentative signs that the coronavirus is being brought under control in Europe suggests that equity prices will only experience a bigger recovery once this appears to be happening throughout the world,” analysts at Capital Economics said.
Asian stocks weakened overnight, while futures tied to the S&P 500 on Wall Street fell more than 3 per cent.
Oman tightens control on citizens’ movements
Simeon Kerr in Dubai
Oman is enforcing strict control of movement between its regions as the sultanate tightens measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Police have set up checkpoints at crossings between the 11 governorates to monitor its citizens. Emergency vehicles, the transportation of foodstuffs and other essential items, as well as employees in the public and private sectors whose jobs require travel, are exempt.
Citizens and residents will be allowed to cross in “exceptional circumstances”, which will be assessed at the checkpoints.
The sultanate has reported 192 cases and one death.
This morning on ft.com: UK’s biggest lenders suspend dividends
The UK’s largest lenders bowed to pressure from Britain’s top financial regulator and halted their dividends after they were warned against paying out billions of pounds to shareholders during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lloyds, RBS, Barclays, HSBC, Santander and Standard Chartered said on Tuesday they would cancel their dividends for 2019 and refrain from setting cash aside for investor payouts this year. They pledged not to carry out any share buybacks.
Their announcements were made as the Prudential Regulation Authority, the supervisory arm of the Bank of England, published a statement welcoming the dividend cancellations.
Here’s the full story: UK’s biggest lenders suspend dividends after BoE pressure
Panama’s president says officials must support coronavirus fund
Jude Webber in Mexico City
All Panamanian officials who earn more than $1,000 a month will be required to chip in with a contribution to the coronavirus effort, President Nito Cortizo announced.
The president said on Twitter that the size of the required contributions to the Panamá Solidario fund would be announced next week. Health, security and education workers will be exempt. The move immediately sparked controversy on social media
He said utilities, telephone and internet bills would be delayed for three months but urged those able to pay should do as usual, and said state welfare programmes would be maintained. Panama has 1,181 confirmed cases and 30 deaths.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador earlier said he and senior officials would take a pay cut, but said it would take the form of not receiving any increase from last year.
United Arab Emirates builds new testing facilities
Simeon Kerr reports from Dubai
A new laboratory with the capacity to handle tens of thousands of tests a day has been built in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The lab, located in sovereign investor Mubadala’s Masdar City development, was set up in two weeks as the UAE ramps up its Covid-19 testing capacity across the population.
Group 42, a technology firm in Abu Dhabi, and China-based genomics services provider BGI, launched the facility, which has the capacity to handle tens of thousands of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests a day – the first on this scale outside China.
The lab, which will help the UAE to maintain its position as the country with the most tests per capita, comes as nationwide drive-through testing centres are being built.
Taiwan plans second economic support package
Kathrin Hille in Taipei
Taiwan is preparing the second economic support package in the course of a month to soften the blow from the coronavirus pandemic.
The government will request that parliament increases a NT$60bn ($2bn) special budget approved in early March to NT$150bn, Tsai Ing-wen, president, said on Wednesday, adding that the government would be using a total of NT$1.05tn to counter the economic fallout of the pandemic.
“Our first phase support package responded to the epidemic as it developed so far, but over time this epidemic has spread around the world,” Ms Tsai said, pledging to “do everything we can to help any industry as well as ordinary people.”
On top of the first special budget, the government is using NT$40bn in discretionary funding from its regular budget. It also has access to a number of regular funds earmarked for tasks such as the stabilisation of the labour market which total NT$100bn.
Separately, the government is trying to allay pressure on households and enterprises by offering NT$350bn in loans and granting extensions for the servicing of household debt and tax payments.
Two weeks ago, Taiwan’s Central Bank cut interest rates for the first time in 45 months as it cut its outlook for economic growth. Taiwan’s economy, which is heavily reliant on exports especially of technology products, is expected to grow by to 1.92 per cent from an earlier forecast of 2.57 per cent.
China reports 130 asymptomatic coronavirus cases
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong and Christian Shepherd in Beijing
China has reported 130 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, in the first update of the number of people who have tested positive for the virus but show no symptoms.
China’s national health commission said on Tuesday that it would include asymptomatic cases in its nationwide count from April 1 following criticism that these new infections were not part of the official tally.
The number of asymptomatic cases under medical observation fell to 1,367, down 174 from the previous day.
Zhang Wenhong, a Shanghai infectious disease expert said on Tuesday that asymptomatic cases accounted for around 18 to 31 per cent of infections.
There were 36 new confirmed cases of individuals showing symptoms of the virus to the end of Tuesday. Of those, 35 were found in people returning from overseas, while one was a local case in Guangdong.
The number of symptomatic cases rose to 81,554.
There were seven new deaths from the virus, taking the total to 3,312.
Singapore to allow businesses to defer loan payments
Stefania Palma in Singapore
Singapore has announced further measures to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, including the deferral of mortgage and business loan payments.
“Our financial institutions are able to do this because of their strong starting position. They have deep capital buffers, ample liquidity, and low leverage,” said Ravi Menon, managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Among the new initiatives, individuals can apply to convert outstanding credit balances to term loans at lower interest rates. They can also apply to defer premium payments on life and health insurance for up to six months as well as principal and or interest payments on mortgages.
Small and medium enterprises can also choose to postpone principal payments on secured term loans until the end of the year, while banks supporting SMEs will be able to apply for cheaper funding through a new facility launched by the central bank.
More than S$40bn ($28bn) of existing SME loans are likely to qualify for this relief package, the MAS said.
Companies with general insurance policies can also apply for instalment payment plans to avoid paying premiums in a lump sum at the start of their policies.
Australian government moves to subsidise food exports
Jamie Smyth reports from Sydney
A sharp decline in global air freight capacity is forcing Canberra to subsidise the export of more than A$500m of lobsters and other high value fresh foods in a battle to keep vital export markets in Asia open during the coronavirus crisis.
The Australian government said on Wednesday it would spend A$110m to help exporters secure scarce air freight services to move goods to key markets and import vital medical supplies on return flights. The scheme would initially focus on Australia’s key markets of China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UAE and involve potentially hundreds of flights.
The cost of air cargo has surged in recent weeks as airlines cancel flights and ground large parts of their fleet, making it difficult and costly for exporters to transport their goods.
Jonno Duniam, assistant minister for fisheries, said the freight assistance was a lifeline for Australian fishers, including a rock lobster industry that has faced massive disruption due to the loss of its main export market, China.
“Unlocking key international markets will get thousands of fishers, divers, deckhands and processors back on the job, and the levy relief will help to keep fishers financially afloat.
News Corp Australia suspends printing of 60 newspapers
Jamie Smyth reports from Sydney
News Corp Australia is suspending printing of 60 community newspapers due to a rapid decline in advertising, as the local media sector continues to be hit by the coronavirus crisis.
The move by Australia’s biggest media company follows the closure of several local newspapers over the past week, including some century-old titles which are the sole news providers in remote towns.
Similar closures have emerged elsewhere globally, with JPI Media, publisher of the Scotsman in the UK, ceasing printing of a dozen of its free newspaper titles earlier this week.
Michael Miller, News Corps Australia chairman, said readers would be offered the opportunity to sign up for a free 28-day digital subscription. He blamed the restrictions placed on real estate auctions and home inspections, the forced closure of event venues and dine-in restaurants for the steep decline in advertising revenue.
“During this unprecedented time it is imperative that we reduce costs while continuing to keep the community informed and doing all we can to retain jobs. The print suspension will allow us to assess the shape of the market itself and future conditions, taking into account how the Coronavirus situation unfolds in the coming period,” he said.
Coronavirus sours business sentiment in Japan
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The Bank of Japan’s closely watched Tankan survey of business sentiment pointed to a sharp deterioration in conditions in the first quarter, with large manufacturers turning pessimistic for the first time since the start of Abenomics over seven years ago.
The Tankan’s index of business conditions for large manufacturers, based on a survey conducted just as the coronavirus was tightening its grip on the global economy in March, dropped from 0 to minus 8, slightly better than the more severe drop to minus 10 predicted by economists.
Nikko Asset Management Chief Global Strategist John Vail said: “The outcome was obviously poor, but for large companies, both in manufacturing and non-manufacturing, they were better than consensus expectations, both in terms of the current situation and the outlook…The numbers do not indicate any panic, unlike some parts elsewhere in the world.”
But order cancellations and acute disruption to supply chains from the coronavirus have caused Japan’s factory activity in March to contract at its fastest pace since the global financial crisis, a separate survey showed on Wednesday.
The reported plunge, which further adds to the recession risks hanging over the world’s third biggest economy, represented the steepest drop in goods production since the period immediately after the quake and tsunami in 2011.
The reading from the Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ Index (PMI), which acts as a broad gauge of manufacturing activity, showed a sharp fall to 44.8 in March, down from 47.8 in February. That was its lowest reading since April 2009.
Joe Hayes, economist at IHS Markit which commissions the survey, said: “The likelihood of the manufacturing recession deepening in the coming months is high. Latest data showed a sharp fall in inventories of inputs, which firms are going to find challenging to replenish in order to sustain factory production.”
Dean & DeLuca files for bankruptcy in New York
John Reed reports from Bangkok
Dean & DeLuca, the Thai-owned US gourmet food purveyor, has filed for bankruptcy protection after the coronavirus hammered retailers in New York City, where the brand was founded.
The Chapter 11 petition, filed in the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, said the company had liabilities of up to $500m and assets of no more than $50m.
The document listed the company’s lessors, food suppliers, the US Internal Revenue Service, and the Thai Ministry of Finance among its main creditors, and was signed by Sorapoj Techakraisri, chief executive of Pace Development, the Thai property developer that owns the gourmet food chain.
New York has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the US, and Dean & DeLuca was already struggling to pay suppliers and stay afloat because of a shift in high-end retail toward online shopping. The chain shuttered most of its U.S. stores last year, including what it called a “temporary” closing of the SoHo flagship, but kept many outlets operating in Asia, where the brand operates in a cafe/restaurant format.
Mr Sorapoj told the FT in an interview in August 2019 that he was hoping to complete work on two condominium developments in Bangkok and Hua Hin that would provide the money needed to turn Dean & DeLuca around.
Caixin manufacturing PMI steadies in March
Business conditions for Chinese manufacturers stabilised in March, according to a private survey, as factories reopened following the coronavirus outbreak.
The Caixin-Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.1 in March from the previous month’s record low of 40.3. That was above a Reuters poll forecasting a print of 45.5. A reading above 50 marks expansion.
The Caixin survey, which examines smaller, privately-owned companies follows the official survey of large, state-owned companies, which rebounded to 52 in March from an all-time low of 35.7 a month earlier.
In February, restrictions on the movement of people to stem the spread of the coronavirus and government directives on when businesses could restart meant factories were unable to resume production.
Despite the rebound, those issues continued to weigh on activity in March, while export orders came under pressure as the virus spread to other countries.
“The manufacturing sector was under double pressure in March: business resumption was insufficient; and worsening external demand and soft domestic consumer demand restricted production from expanding further,” said Zhengsheng Zhong, chief economist at CEBM Group.
HSBC shares slide after banks halt dividend payments
Daniel Shane in Hong Kong
Shares in HBSC and Standard Chartered tumbled on Wednesday after the banks halted dividend payments amid pressure from UK financial regulators, which had warned against paying out billions of pounds to shareholders during the coronavirus crisis.
The Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC and Standard Chartered fell by 7.9 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively, in early trading. The two banks are based in London but much of their business is focused on Asia.
The lenders, as well as UK banks including Lloyds, RBS and Barclays, have said they would cancel their dividends for 2019 and not set cash aside for investor payouts this year. They have also said they will not carry out share buybacks.
In its statement, HSBC said it regretted “the impact this cancellation will have on our shareholders, including our retail shareholders in Hong Kong, the UK and elsewhere”. The bank has also warned that its business will be affected by the coronavirus.
“Suspending shareholder distributions at this time will allow the group to maximise its support for individuals, businesses and the communities in which it operates,” Standard Chartered said in a statement.
South Korean factory activity falls at fastest rate in over a decade
By Song Jung-a in Seoul
South Korea’s factory activity fell at its fastest pace in 11 years in March, a private sector survey showed on Wednesday, in a further sign of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The IHS Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped from 48.7 in February to 44.2 in March, the lowest since January 2009, when the economy was hit by the global financial crisis.
This reflects “intensified supply chain disruption and a stronger negative demand shock as aggregate orders fell substantially,” said IHS Markit economist Joe Hayes.
South Korea initially reported one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks outside of China but the country’s rate of daily new infections slowed to around 100 in recent weeks from more than 900 in late February. The country reported 101 new cases on Wednesday, taking the total caseload to 9,887.
“Although South Korea has succeeded in ‘flattening the curve’… it has still succumbed to a substantial economic shock,” said Mr Hayes.
Mexico urges banks to forego dividends
Jude Webber in Mexico City
Mexico is urging banks to forego dividend payments, share buy-backs or other similar measures to benefit shareholders “to direct resources to strengthen banking institutions” as Covid-19 spreads.
The recommendation came from the national banking regulator, the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, given the uncertain duration and impact of the coronavirus pandemic, so that banks “are in the best position to absorb potential losses and … have more resources to support the economy”.
The CNBV said in a statement it was following in the footsteps of other countries, including the UK, Canada, Argentina, Italy, Russia and Japan and gave any bank planning not to comply a week to provide written justification.
Mexico has now confirmed 1,215 cases of coronavirus and 29 deaths.
Mexico’s government is expected to issue its budget pre-criteria on Wednesday, including a new forecast for GDP. The official 2 per cent goal was always considered optimistic but market economists are now bracing for a contraction of as much as 7 per cent.
El Salvador reports first coronavirus death
Jude Webber in Mexico City
El Salvador, which has implemented a stringent lockdown, has recorded its first coronavirus death.
“First death from #COVID19 in El Salvador. God Protect Us,” President Nayib Bukele said in a tweet.
Central America’s smallest country has 32 confirmed cases, including four patients in serious condition, according to official figures. It has seen a sharp acceleration since March 23, when it recorded five cases.
El Salvador is building emergency hospitals and has given cash handouts to the most vulnerable households to help them weather the emergency.
Central America has speedily closed borders and imposed restrictions to stem the spread of the virus but Northern Triangle countries — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — are highly exposed to the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Eurasia Group, a consultancy, noted that “El Salvador is more vulnerable given its higher financing needs and greater fiscal imbalances, but President Nayib Bukele is among the region’s strongest presidents and will be able to steamroll congress to approve new financing, with $2 billion (7.5% of GDP) already pre-authorised.”
News you might have missed
Mexico City to shut stores and parks to slow Covid-19 spread The nation’s capital will shut shopping centres, department stores and parks from Wednesday after the federal government called on citizens across the country to stay at home for a month to slow the coronavirus spread.
Ireland records its highest single-day death toll The country has reported 17 further coronavirus deaths, the highest in a single day, amid concern in the government about increased cases among healthcare staff who now make up about a quarter of infections.
Honduras taps IMF loan to meet coronavirus expenses Honduras has tapped $143m from a IMF stand-by facility — about half of its total funds — to meet higher healthcare and social expenses arising from coronavirus. The funds come from a $312m stand-by agreement and credit facility approved last July.
Greece puts northern towns and villages into quarantine Civil protection authorities have put several towns and villages across northern Greece into quarantine after they reported a steady rise in coronavirus cases over the past 10 days.
Invesco’s Barnett hit by 60% writedown on unlisted holdings Invesco’s Mark Barnett has applied for a 60 per cent write-down to the values of unquoted companies held in the £3.4bn High Income and £1.5bn Income funds, resulting in falls of around 5 per cent in the funds’ net asset values.
Trump to grant 90-day suspension for some US tariffs Donald Trump was poised to announce a 90-day suspension of tariff payments on certain US imports, including some apparel and light trucks, as his administration seeks to blunt the damage to the economy from the expanding coronavirus pandemic.
Dyson names new CEO as it readies to make ventilators Dyson has replaced its chief executive with Roland Krueger, the man who was in charge of its abandoned electric car project, as the company prepares to manufacture thousands of ventilators for treating coronavirus patients.
Portugal’s TAP airline to temporarily lay off 90% of staff The carrier is to lay off 90 per cent of its 10,000 workers for at least a month as it cuts flights to a bare minimum because of the coronavirus pandemic.
SocGen abandons 2020 financial targets, cancels dividend The French bank said it was abandoning its financial targets for 2020 due to “uncertainties related to the magnitude and duration of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Asia stocks dip after Wall Street fall
Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed following a late sell off on Wall Street that saw US stocks notch the biggest quarterly drop since 2008.
In early trading, Japan’s Topix was down 1.3 per cent, the Kospi in Seoul dipped 1 per cent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.9 per cent. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 were down 1.2 per cent.
The S&P 500 closed 1.6 per cent lower in New York on Tuesday following more grim forecasts over the hit to the economy from the coronavirus pandemic. A late sell-off brought the loss for the index for the first quarter to 20 per cent, its worst quarter since the financial crisis.
Surveys of the manufacturing sector in Asia released this morning will give more clues on the effects of shutdowns in China on the regional economy.
Russia to send medical supplies and protective gear to US
Max Seddon in Moscow
Russia says it will send a plane to the US carrying medical equipment and personal protective gear to help fight the coronavirus epidemic.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the plane would leave Moscow for the US after Donald Trump accepted Russian president Vladimir Putin’s offer a day earlier.
“The Russian side offered aid in the form of medical supplies and protective gear in the light of the difficult epidemiological situation in America,” Mr Peskov said, according to Interfax. “Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid.”
“In offering aid to our American colleagues, the president expects that when American producers of medical equipment and supplies pick up the pace, they will also be able to answer in turn if required,” Mr Peskov said. “Now, when the current situation affects everyone without exception all over the world, there is no alternative other than acting in the spirit of partnership and mutual aid.”
Russia sent nine giant IL-76 transport planes carrying 600 ventilators, 100 military virologists, and eight medical teams to Italy last week to help with the country’s coronavirus outbreak. Military trucks bearing the Russian flag then drove the aid to Bergamo, one of Italy’s hardest-hit regions.
