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Novartis — Unleash the Power of Our People | Originally published on annualreview.novartis.com.
To help us fulfill our company purpose of reimagining medicine, we are changing the way we work to unleash the talent and creativity of our people. We made progress in 2019 on our cultural transformation, which is a strategic priority for Novartis. We aim to make our culture a driver of innovation, performance and reputation, and a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
Cultural transformation means ensuring employees feel inspired by our purpose. We want them to be constantly curious about new ideas that can improve health outcomes for patients, physicians and society as a whole. And we strive to create an “ unbossed ” culture in which leaders are encouraged to serve their teams, remove obstacles, and empower people to attain their personal and professional ambitions.
To support this transformation, our goal is to attract, develop and promote highly talented people who embody the new culture, and to build a diverse and inclusive workforce so we can tap the broadest possible range of skills, experiences and backgrounds.
Our purpose provides a major source of inspiration for employees, and we constantly seek ways to show how their work contributes to its fulfillment. In 2019, Novartis senior leaders increased communication about the impact we are having on global health – whether through the launch of innovative cell and gene therapies, or through our efforts to fight malaria. The company’ s purpose was a constant theme on our internal social media platform and intranet. We also held a series of live global events featuring external thought leaders to inspire employees with ideas from outside the organization.
We aim to sustain inspiration by providing employees with a working environment and practices that encourage them to do their best work. In 2019, for instance, we began experimenting with a new approach to managing people’ s performance. In trials involving more than 16 000 employees in eight countries, we eliminated individual performance ratings, stressing instead the importance of teamwork and collaboration. People got regular feedback from peers as well as managers, and we increased the focus on coaching to improve performance. The experience we gained will inform how we extend the process across the company in the next two years.
In 2019, we began experimenting with a new approach to managing people’ s performance. In trials involving more than 16 000 employees in eight countries, we eliminated individual performance ratings, stressing instead the importance of teamwork and collaboration
We also began implementing a global guideline providing for at least 14 weeks’ paid leave for all new parents employed by Novartis, regardless of gender, to support the well-being of their families after the birth or adoption of a child. Currently 82% of employees in more than 40 countries can benefit from the guideline, and by January 2021, we expect it to cover all Novartis employees, helping them feel more fulfilled and inspired in their work and home lives.
We continued our Energized for Life initiative, including programs to improve employees’ health and well-being. For example, we expanded a program that supports people affected by medical conditions such as cancer and neurological and cardio-metabolic disorders to cover 80 000 employees and their families in more than 70 countries. Our alliance with an external company that gives advice and support in areas like nutrition, movement, mindset and recovery now extends to all employees worldwide. In addition, we started rolling out mindfulness and mental health support programs globally.
We are building a culture that stimulates curiosity, encouraging people to challenge the status quo and explore new ways of working. To support that culture, we provide multiple opportunities for employees to learn from colleagues and external experts. This is vital to help us keep pace with the digital revolution in healthcare and accelerating innovation in biomedical research.
A popular employee-crowdsourced idea to support culture change prompted us to announce a new investment of USD 100 million over the next five years, on top of our existing annual training budget of about USD 200 million. And we are encouraging all employees to devote 100 hours per year to learning activities.
About 2 000 people completed a digital immersion course for leadership teams that included a hands-on simulation with opportunities to experience and use the latest technologies. Our online Digital Awareness Hub launched in 2018 to help demystify digital technology was used by 33 000 people, or nearly a third of all employees.
In 2019, we began giving employees free access to 3 500 virtual courses provided by Coursera in conjunction with 200 leading global universities. During the first year, more than 7 000 people took part in over 1 800 different courses, many relating to leadership and digital skills, amounting to nearly 85 000 hours of training. In addition, we started offering virtual master’ s programs in data science via Coursera with two US universities. In collaboration with LinkedIn Learning, 11 000 employees completed more than 370 000 shorter courses and training videos. We also launched virtual language training and around 14 000 people took part, supporting effective communication among colleagues from 120 countries.
This activity reached its peak in our second Novartis Learning Month in September, when over 15 000 employees devoted 100 000 hours to learning and participated in 130 webinars and 250 local learning events. For the full year, employees spent an average of 35.8 hours on learning activities, up from 22.6 hours the prior year.
Leaders are critical for driving culture change, and this means developing strong and self-aware managers who act in an unbossed way. In other words, they set clear priorities, empower their teams, and encourage employees to speak their mind and take smart risks.
In 2019, 350 senior leaders began a yearlong leadership development program to build the capabilities they need to help transform our culture. So far, 120 have completed it, with the rest due to finish in 2020. Members of the Executive Committee of Novartis ( ECN) are going through the same intensive program, which includes a two-week immersion session supported by coaching, as well as webinars, and three 360-degree evaluations to track progress. We plan to cascade key aspects of the program to 10 000 leaders over the next three years, helping embed the new leadership approach in our organization.
We expect the benefits of the new approach to grow as more leaders adopt it, but there are indications it is already beginning to change the way people work. For example, in a technique borrowed from the technology industry, self-directed project teams in our manufacturing and commercial operations are developing digital applications more quickly than they were able to in the past. And when our medical liaisons in the US were free to organize their own approach to telling doctors about some positive research results in heart failure patients taking Entresto, they doubled the number of customer engagements in a 90-day period, compared to the typical top-down approach.
We believe effective leadership is grounded in self-awareness, and in 2019, we rolled out a new online assessment tool that allows leaders to get feedback from colleagues and team members on how well they are encouraging an inspired, curious and unbossed culture. In addition, a range of tools monitor progress within the organization and provide regular feedback. In an annual survey, employees gave their managers an approval score of 82, 5 points higher than a global benchmark. A new quarterly survey to assess employee engagement in November 2019 showed a score of 74, 4 points above the pharmaceutical industry benchmark, with a score of 78 for sense of purpose, 2 points above the benchmark.
The future success of Novartis depends on our ability to recruit and promote talented individuals who can drive the company’ s performance in an era of accelerating innovation. In 2019, we continued our progress on initiatives to promote a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Novartis made progress toward our goal of gender balance in management by 2023, with the percentage of women managers at 44%. The number of women on the ECN rose from two to three, and women now head both the Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology business units.
We also made progress toward our United Nations Equal Pay International Coalition ( EPIC) pledge to close the gender pay gap by 2023. One major step is to remove potential bias from the system by eliminating historical salary data when making job offers, and in 2019 we achieved this in seven countries covering 40% of global hiring, including the US and India.
We are encouraging more open discussion of pay so employees can see how their income compares to peers and, where possible, to external benchmarks. We have already launched pay transparency in France and plan to add seven more countries in 2020, including the US and Switzerland. In a further sign of our commitment, Novartis has been included in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which tracks a range of measures including female leadership and talent pipeline, gender pay parity and inclusive culture.
Our progress in diversity and inclusion ( D & I) was reviewed in two global surveys. We were pharmaceutical industry leaders in the Refinitiv ( formerly Thomson Reuters) D & I Index and were seventh out of more than 7 000 companies worldwide. We were also ranked No. 7 in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which compares the environmental, social and governance performance of the world’ s leading companies. We were industry leaders in a number of environmental areas and in labor practice indicators covering D & I, equal remuneration, and freedom of association.
In addition to the focus on D & I, our talent strategy aims to anticipate future business priorities. Internal promotion has played a vital role in revitalizing the company’ s leadership as we transform our culture, with four out of 10 new ECN members in the last two years coming from within the organization. Among the company’ s top 293 leaders, 38% were appointed during the past year and 82% of these positions were filled internally. We are also stepping up external recruitment, both to refill the talent pipeline and to develop our capabilities in key areas such as data science.
A major driver of recruitment is our new Employer Value Proposition, which captures our appeal as an employer and provides a framework for attracting talented individuals to the organization. One year after launch, we have already seen an 88% increase in hires made via the Glassdoor recruitment website and a 72% increase in hires made through LinkedIn, compared to 2018.
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Rapid permafrost thaw an unrecognized threat to landscape | Hi, what are you looking for?
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It’ s all part of a vicious cycle of climate feedback loops, and we have heard about what happens when a warming planet causes the permafrost to start thawing. When the permafrost thaws, it releases microbes that consume organic matter.
This, in turn, causes the release of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere. And it goes on – as more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, it causes even more warming and more melting and more CO2 emissions.
Permafrost covers about 24 percent of the exposed land in the Arctic that is frozen year-round, and the ice-rich permafrost soils can be up to 260 feet ( 80 meters) thick. But despite its name, permafrost is not always permanent. In areas further away from the Arctic Circle, permafrost can melt, even on a semi-regular basis.
However, the University of Guelph scientist Merritt Turetsky and a team international researchers – in a study published in Nature Geoscience today – argue that without taking abrupt permafrost thaws into account, we’ re underestimating the impact of permafrost thaw by 50 percent.
The study suggests that we are witnessing a rapid collapse of permafrost that can transform the landscape in mere months through subsidence, flooding, and landslides. “ We are watching this sleeping giant wake up right in front of our eyes, ” said Turetsky, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology, per Eurekalert.
What’ s going on? Turetsky explains that the amount of carbon coming off a small range of permafrost ( about 20 percent) under a rapid thaw is great enough to double the climate consequences. Some permafrost is frozen rock or even sand, and the study is not focused on that kind of permafrost. Turetsky says the study focused on the kind of permafrost that contains a lot of water. “ Where permafrost tends to be lake sediment or organic soils, the type of earth material that can hold a lot of water, these are like sponges on the landscape, ” says Turetsky. “ When you have thaw, we see really dynamic and rapid changes. ”
Frozen water takes up more space than liquid water. So when permafrost thaws, it loses a good amount of its volume. As an analogy, think of freezing an ice cube tray of muddy water. When the tray is thawed, the muck will settle to the bottom of the tray.
“ That’ s exactly what happens in these ecosystems when the permafrost has a lot of ice in it and it thaws, ” says Turetsky. “ Whatever was at the surface just slumps right down to the bottom. So you get these pits on the land, sometimes meters deep. They’ re like sinkholes developing in the land. ” Besides the sinkholes and other landscape alterations caused by permafrost thawing, there are far-reaching effects that are concerning. When these lands thaw and the ice turns to liquid water, trees, shrubs, and grasses die off, causing more land to feel the effects of the warming climate, causing more thawing.
Rapid thawing is also altering the natural habitats of birds and animals which call the northern reaches home. When you think of permafrost regions, you might think of featureless tundras, but most are actually boreal forests. These northern forests have recently seen an unprecedented number of wildfires.
“ Much of the boreal forest burns more and more often, and when the ecosystem burns, it can actually accelerate the permafrost thaw, ” says David Olefeldt of the University of Alberta, a coauthor on the paper. “ Without cover from these trees to shade it, the soil warms ever more intensely. ”
Despite all the gloom, the researchers remain optimistic. “ If we can limit human emissions, we can still curb the most dangerous consequences of climate warming. Our window for action is getting narrow, but we still have it and can make changes to save the Arctic as we know it, and the Earth’ s climate along with it, ” says Turetsky.
Karen Graham is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for environmental news. Karen's view of what is happening in our world is colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in man's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, `` Journalism is merely history's first draft. '' Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.
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WorldCom fraudster Bernard Ebbers dies at 78: media reports | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Bernard Ebbers, the ex-WorldCom chief executive who was jailed after overseeing an $ 11 billion accounting fraud, has died, US media reported Sunday. He was 78.
Ebbers, a religious man dubbed the `` Telecom cowboy '' during his heyday, turned a sleepy Mississippi firm into a US telecoms giant.
Deal after deal made him a darling of Wall Street before his success was exposed as a huge illusion.
His family confirmed his death in a statement reported by local media, stating they were `` thankful for the time that we had to be with and care for Dad in his final days ''.
In 2005 Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the $ 11 billion fraud -- one of the largest in US history -- that led to the collapse of his WorldCom empire in 2002.
In December last year, he was released early due to his poor health, having served roughly 13 years of his sentence.
- 'Gods plan ' -
Born in Edmonton, Canada on August 27, 1941, Ebbers ' family moved south when he was a child. His father John became a business manager for a Christian mission on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico.
Ebbers, a moderately good basketballer but only an average student, twice dropped out of university before giving school a final try at Mississippi College.
He graduated in 1966 and the following year married a Mississippi girl, Linda Piggott, and made the US South his home.
He worked as a basketball coach and teacher in a small town, then quit to work at a clothes factory where he became the warehouse manager.
Ebbers ' fortunes changed when in 1974 he bought a motel, creating a small chain that he used to launch his telecommunications career.
He took over local long-distance reseller LDDS and throughout the late 1980s and 1990s merged with or bought dozens of rivals.
As the AT and T monopoly was dismantled, Ebbers bought up spare telephone time and repackaged it at bargain prices.
By 1995, Ebbers had become a major player, paying $ 1.2 billion for WilTel Network Services. He changed the group's name to WorldCom.
In 1996, Ebbers paid $ 14 billion for MFS Communications and in 1998 spent $ 37 billion on MCI.
`` I believe God has a plan for people's lives, and I believe he had a plan for me, '' Ebbers once said.
By mid-1999, WorldCom reached its all-time high of $ 64.50 a share. Forbes magazine listed Ebbers ' fortune at an estimated $ 1.4 billion.
- An American symbol -
In 2000 then-president Bill Clinton gave a speech at WorldCom offices, saying: `` I came here today because you are the symbol of 21st century America. You are the embodiment of what I want for the future. ''
But success changed Ebbers: the local church patriarch divorced his wife, and embarked on a dramatic spending spree.
He also bought a yacht, and the 200,000 hectare ( 500,000 acre) Douglas Lake Ranch in British Columbia, the largest working ranch in Canada.
In 2001, Ebbers tried to buy Sprint, a larger rival, but was halted by regulators as wider concerns about WorldCom's huge debt began to emerge.
WorldCom made drastic efforts to cut costs -- including sacking thousands of staff and merging business units -- but it could not generate enough income to keep creditors at bay.
Ebbers resigned in April 2002 after admitting borrowing money from the firm to cover losses he incurred in buying its shares.
Later the same year, WorldCom went bankrupt.
Shareholders lost about $ 180 billion and 20,000 workers lost their jobs.
Bernard Ebbers, the ex-WorldCom chief executive who was jailed after overseeing an $ 11 billion accounting fraud, has died, US media reported Sunday. He was 78.
Ebbers, a religious man dubbed the “ Telecom cowboy ” during his heyday, turned a sleepy Mississippi firm into a US telecoms giant.
Deal after deal made him a darling of Wall Street before his success was exposed as a huge illusion.
His family confirmed his death in a statement reported by local media, stating they were “ thankful for the time that we had to be with and care for Dad in his final days ”.
In 2005 Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the $ 11 billion fraud — one of the largest in US history — that led to the collapse of his WorldCom empire in 2002.
In December last year, he was released early due to his poor health, having served roughly 13 years of his sentence.
– ‘ Gods plan’ –
Born in Edmonton, Canada on August 27, 1941, Ebbers’ family moved south when he was a child. His father John became a business manager for a Christian mission on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico.
Ebbers, a moderately good basketballer but only an average student, twice dropped out of university before giving school a final try at Mississippi College.
He graduated in 1966 and the following year married a Mississippi girl, Linda Piggott, and made the US South his home.
He worked as a basketball coach and teacher in a small town, then quit to work at a clothes factory where he became the warehouse manager.
Ebbers’ fortunes changed when in 1974 he bought a motel, creating a small chain that he used to launch his telecommunications career.
He took over local long-distance reseller LDDS and throughout the late 1980s and 1990s merged with or bought dozens of rivals.
As the AT and T monopoly was dismantled, Ebbers bought up spare telephone time and repackaged it at bargain prices.
By 1995, Ebbers had become a major player, paying $ 1.2 billion for WilTel Network Services. He changed the group’ s name to WorldCom.
In 1996, Ebbers paid $ 14 billion for MFS Communications and in 1998 spent $ 37 billion on MCI.
“ I believe God has a plan for people’ s lives, and I believe he had a plan for me, ” Ebbers once said.
By mid-1999, WorldCom reached its all-time high of $ 64.50 a share. Forbes magazine listed Ebbers’ fortune at an estimated $ 1.4 billion.
– An American symbol –
In 2000 then-president Bill Clinton gave a speech at WorldCom offices, saying: “ I came here today because you are the symbol of 21st century America. You are the embodiment of what I want for the future. ”
But success changed Ebbers: the local church patriarch divorced his wife, and embarked on a dramatic spending spree.
He also bought a yacht, and the 200,000 hectare ( 500,000 acre) Douglas Lake Ranch in British Columbia, the largest working ranch in Canada.
In 2001, Ebbers tried to buy Sprint, a larger rival, but was halted by regulators as wider concerns about WorldCom’ s huge debt began to emerge.
WorldCom made drastic efforts to cut costs — including sacking thousands of staff and merging business units — but it could not generate enough income to keep creditors at bay.
Ebbers resigned in April 2002 after admitting borrowing money from the firm to cover losses he incurred in buying its shares.
Later the same year, WorldCom went bankrupt.
Shareholders lost about $ 180 billion and 20,000 workers lost their jobs.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Johnny Wactor joins 'General Hospital ' on ABC as Brando Corbin | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Wactor plays the role of Gladys’ ( Bonnie Burroughs) son Brando Corbin, who has been presumed dead ( for being killed while serving in the armed forces in Iraq). He has been shot in the stomach this past week on the show at the Corinthos Coffee warehouse, and he is cared for by Carly Corinthos ( Emmy winner Laura Wright) until the ambulance gets there.
General Hospital fans and viewers will certainly be curious to see where his storyline is going, and whether he will be able to find a love interest in the town of Port Charles.
His acting credits include appearances in episodes of NCIS, Criminal Minds, Age Appropriate, Hollywood Girls, and Army Wives, as well as Training Day and Animal Kingdom. Wactor had a supporting role in the Nicolas Cage film USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage back in 2016.
Wactor may also be seen in the upcoming television mini-series The Passenger, where he is playing the role of Horace Parker.
To learn more about actor Johnny Wactor and his filmography, check out his official IMDb page and follow him on Instagram.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
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COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
China Eastern suspends flights to the United States over coronavirus outbreak | The virus has killed 361 people and sickened more than 17,000 in China so far, with nearly 180 cases confirmed in countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan. One man has died in the Philippines.
Due to `` the recent public health incident, '' China Eastern is canceling flights from Shanghai ( PVG) to Los Angeles and New York ( JFK) from February 2 through February 10, according to a notice circulated to travel agents and seen by CNN Business. Flights to the major US hubs were unavailable to book on China Eastern's website until March 29, however.
China Eastern ( CEA) did not respond to a request for comment.
China Eastern is also canceling flights from Shanghai ( PVG) to San Francisco on February 6 and February 9, to Chicago on February 8 and to Honolulu from February 3 until March 27, according to the notice.
Several flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada, that originate in Chengdu or Kunming with layovers in Nanjing or Qingdao have also been canceled this week.
`` In the days to come, China Eastern will pay close attention to the epidemic, and may further adjust the arrangements of flights, '' the notice said.
China's two other major carriers, Air China ( AIRYY) and China Southern ( ZNH), did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Direct flights to the United States were still available to book on Air China and China Southern's websites on Monday.
Shares in all three companies fell by about 10% — the daily maximum limit — in Shanghai on Monday, the first day of trading following the extended Lunar New Year holiday. The wider market closed down 8%.
Major international airlines such Air Canada, ( ACDVF) American Airlines ( AAL), British Airways, Delta ( DAL), Lufthansa ( DLAKY) and Qatar Airways have already suspended all flights to and from mainland China until the end of February or longer.
United Airlines ( UAL) said Friday it was suspending flights from its US hub cities and Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai from February 6 to March 28. This week, the carrier will `` operate select flights to help ensure our US-based employees, as well as customers, have options to return home, '' it said in a statement.
A growing number of countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, have begun barring entry to all foreigners who have traveled to mainland China, with Italy and Israel stopping all incoming air traffic from the country. Many more countries have told their citizens not to travel to mainland China.
Beijing officials said on Sunday that the outbreak has nearly wiped out all inbound travel to China's capital city.
Train and flight bookings to Beijing in the coming days has plunged more than 70% compared to a year earlier, Rong Jun, deputy commissioner of the Beijing Transportation Commission, told reporters on Sunday. He did not specify a time frame.
Travel to and from Beijing also fell more than 60% during the Lunar New Year period, China's peak travel season, Rong added.
-- Alexandra Lin contributed to this report. | business |
Coronavirus in the U.S.: 29 Confirmed Cases, More Tests Underway | The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States nearly doubled on Monday after federal officials announced that 14 Americans evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan and flown back to this country had tested positive for the virus. That brought the number of known cases in this country to 29.
Though the vast majority of coronavirus cases have been in China, where more than 1,700 people have died and thousands more have been diagnosed, public health officials in the United States are racing to stop the virus from spreading widely in this country.
Flights have been canceled. Travelers have been quarantined on military bases. Plans have been upended.
Here’ s what we know about those patients.
The largest single group of Americans with the virus was flown to the United States in two chartered flights on Monday, and officials said they were being placed in isolation to receive medical attention.
The passengers were among more than 300 Americans flown back to this country after being aboard a cruise ship that had been quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, for more than 10 days. U.S. officials initially said that they would not allow infected people to board the evacuation flights, but they appeared to reverse that decision early Monday.
“ During the evacuation process, after passengers had disembarked the ship and initiated transport to the airport, U.S. officials received notice that 14 passengers, who had been tested 2-3 days earlier, had tested positive for COVID-19, ” the State Department and Department of Health and Human Services said in a joint statement, referring to the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The infected passengers — who officials said were asymptomatic and “ fit to fly ” — were moved into a specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft, where they were to be isolated and monitored during the flights.
The two planes landed early Monday, one at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., and the other at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Some of the Americans who had tested positive for coronavirus were then flown to Omaha and taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which was used in 2014 to treat Ebola patients.
All the cruise ship passengers, including those who initially tested negative for the virus, will be placed in a 14-day quarantine on a U.S. military base.
Three people who had been flown to the United States from Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, on flights arranged by federal authorities have tested positive for the virus. Two were being held as part of a federally-mandated 14-day quarantine at a military base in San Diego, and a third was in quarantine at the San Antonio base.
Hundreds of people — mostly Americans — have been evacuated from Wuhan since Jan. 29, and kept on five military bases, in Nebraska, Texas and California, for 14 days.
The two people who were found to have coronavirus in San Diego had no apparent connection. They arrived on different planes and were housed in separate facilities on the same base, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least one of them, a woman, had been released from a hospital and returned to the military base after officials erroneously reported that she had been cleared in testing for the virus. Officials blamed mislabeling of a testing sample for the error, and the woman was later found to have tested positive for coronavirus and returned to the hospital.
“ At this time there is no indication of person-to-person spread of this virus at the quarantine facility, but C.D.C. will carry out a thorough contact investigation as part of its current response strategy to detect and contain any cases of infection with this virus, ” said Dr. Chris Braden, a C.D.C. official.
Many of the coronavirus cases have been in the western United States, including eight in California. “ The novel coronavirus is a serious public health concern, ” Dr. Sonia Angell, the director of the California Public Health Department, said in a statement announcing three cases on Feb. 2. “ However, the risk to the general public in California remains low. ”
The virus has infected more than 7 million people and has been detected in nearly every country.
Two cases were diagnosed in both Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, and in bordering San Benito County. Two other patients received treatment in Southern California, one in Los Angeles County and one in Orange County.
Twelve of the first 15 patients in the United States had traveled recently near Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak. At least two of those people were believed to have lived in Wuhan, while others were residents of the United States who had visited China, then returned home.
[ Are you or someone you know dealing with concerns related to the coronavirus? Please contact us at coronavirus @ nytimes.com if you are willing to share your story. ]
Updated June 12, 2020
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “ very rare, ” but she later walked back that statement.
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’ s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’ s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “ start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, ” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “ When you haven’ t been exercising, you lose muscle mass. ” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’ t being told to stay at home, it’ s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
Though the coronavirus can be deadly, most of the patients receiving care in the United States were said to be doing well. No deaths were reported. At least three of the people diagnosed in California had isolated themselves at home and were not hospitalized, while others were being treated in hospitals.
At least one United States citizen died from the coronavirus while in China, American officials said in early February. It was the first known American death from the illness.
Men with ties to Arizona State University and the University of Massachusetts Boston were diagnosed with coronavirus after returning from Wuhan.
Both patients were said to be recovering in isolation, but the possibility of exposure on campus has rattled some students across the country. At Miami University in Ohio, where two students were tested for coronavirus, two basketball games were canceled because of health concerns. Days later, those students tested negative for the virus.
“ On occasions like this, it is possible for fear to get the better of any of us, ” said Katherine S. Newman, the interim chancellor at Massachusetts Boston, in a letter to students after the diagnosis on her campus was announced. “ Let’ s remember that viruses are no one’ s fault and anyone can find themselves ill. ”
Even as American officials took steps to limit travel from China and screen those who arrived, additional coronavirus diagnoses were expected.
“ More cases are likely to be identified in the coming days, including more cases in the United States, ” the C.D.C. warned on its website. “ It’ s also likely that person-to-person spread will continue to occur, including in the United States. ” | business |
China Pledged to Build a New Hospital in 10 Days. It’ s Close. | WUHAN, China — People desperate for treatment started descending on a new hospital that was mostly built in just 10 days to help cope with the outbreak of the new coronavirus in the central city of Wuhan on Monday.
Construction workers in hard hats, medical staff in hazmat suits, and men and women in army fatigues scrambled around the dusty site on Monday afternoon, dodging moving trucks, excavators and cranes. Workers were still trying to finish construction on the Huoshenshan Hospital — a name that means “ Fire God Mountain ” — even as the facility prepared to accept its first batch of patients, the official state broadcaster, China Central Television, reported.
[ Read: How to survive an outbreak. ]
Xue Ying, a resident of Wuhan, had driven to the new hospital hoping to find help for his increasingly unwell cousin. But city officials and signs on checkpoints have said the hospital would not accept walk-ins. Admission was only for patients with officially confirmed coronavirus infections who were transferred from other facilities.
Here’ s how the hospital, built along the Zhiyin Lake, came together.
Construction teams of 7,000 workers with armies of trucks and excavators dug and scraped around the clock to complete the project. The city government is attempting a feat recalling the SARS epidemic of 2003, when Beijing built a hospital in a week.
For Beijing, the facility would also serve as a potent symbol of the government’ s drive to do what needs to be done.
The city government needed to build the makeshift hospital quickly using prefabricated units to ease a persistent shortage of hospital beds and medical supplies. Leaders pledged to build the 1,000-bed complex in 10 days and vowed that another new 1,600-bed hospital would be ready by Feb. 5.
Wuhan, a city of 11 million, has been eerily quiet since the authorities locked it down, preventing residents from leaving and severely limiting public transportation and private cars. But the roads around the hospital building site were packed with cement mixers, trucks and other construction vehicles.
Many migrant workers and suppliers of materials were roped in to build the complex. Workplace safety precautions included temperature checks to try to detect signs of coronavirus infections.
In a ceremony on Sunday, Zhou Xianwang, the mayor of Wuhan, officially handed the new hospital over to the military, which will be in charge of operations. Boxes containing ventilators and medical equipment lay piled on a sidewalk on Monday. Trees sat in large trucks, ready to be unloaded. One volunteer offered free rides around the vast construction site on his flatbed tricycle. On a sign, he had scrawled: “ Go, Wuhan! Go, Fire God Mountain! ”
Updated June 12, 2020
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “ very rare, ” but she later walked back that statement.
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’ s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’ s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “ start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, ” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “ When you haven’ t been exercising, you lose muscle mass. ” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’ t being told to stay at home, it’ s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
Many patients and their relatives have been eagerly looking forward to the opening of the new coronavirus hospitals, but on Monday, some were disappointed.
Mr. Xue, the resident who had driven to the hospital, said his mother had recently died of what the hospital called “ viral pneumonia, ” and though she was never tested, he believed that she had the coronavirus. He said his aunt and uncle were also in a hospital.
“ I can’ t afford to lose anyone else, ” he said, sitting dejectedly in the car with his cousin, who was unwell.
By Monday evening, Chinese state media were reporting that ambulances had begun transporting patients to the new hospital.
Elsie Chen contributed reporting. | business |
Hong Kong Reports First Death From Coronavirus Outbreak | This briefing has ended. Read live updates on the coronavirus outbreak here.
A 39-year-old man in Hong Kong died Tuesday from the new coronavirus, the city’ s Hospital Authority said.
The death from the outbreak was the first in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory that has had 15 confirmed cases, and the second outside mainland China. A man in the Philippines who was from Wuhan, China — the epicenter of the outbreak — also died from the coronavirus, Philippine officials said Sunday.
The man who died Tuesday had traveled by train to Wuhan on Jan. 21, returning from the mainland to Hong Kong two days later, the Hong Kong government said in a statement. His mother, who did not travel to Wuhan, later contracted the virus, suggesting a transmission within the household. The man’ s wife, two children and a domestic helper who worked for him are being quarantined.
The Hong Kong government has been under pressure to close its borders to mainland China. All but three border checkpoints out of 16 had been shut by Monday, but those remaining entry points can still admit thousands of mainland Chinese visitors per day.
More than 2,500 medical workers went on strike Monday to demand a fully closed border. They said they were unsatisfied by the partial closings, and many continued to strike on Tuesday.
The death toll from the new coronavirus has exceeded that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2002 and 2003 in mainland China. But the number of people who have recovered nationwide has also risen in recent days, suggesting that the new virus’ s fatality rate is relatively low.
China’ s Health Commission reported on Tuesday that there were 632 recoveries and 425 deaths nationwide. During the SARS outbreak, 349 people died in mainland China.
[ Read: China says 1,700 health workers have contracted coronavirus. ]
Health experts say they are encouraged by the steady rise in the number of recoveries. They take it as evidence that the treatments meted out have been effective and that the virus does not appear to be as deadly as SARS.
SARS had a mortality rate of 9.6 percent, and about 2 percent of those reported to have been infected with the new coronavirus have died.
China first announced an outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia in the city of Wuhan on Dec. 31. It has been 12 days since the authorities began to place the city and much of the surrounding Hubei Province — home to tens of millions of people — under lockdown.
Here’ s what early research says about how the pathogen behaves and the factors that will determine how far it will spread.
In Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, 80 patients had recovered on Sunday, compared with 56 deaths. On Saturday, 49 patients had left the hospitals, while 45 people had died.
Still, the number of infections from the new coronavirus continues to climb, suggesting that it could be some time before the outbreak is over.
China had 20,438 confirmed infections as of Monday, the government said on Tuesday. During the SARS outbreak, it had 5,327 cases, according to the World Health Organization.
Oil prices fell on Monday over concerns that the growing coronavirus epidemic will reduce demand from China.
West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark, entered a bear market, after declining more than 20 percent from its January high. And the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, has fallen about 19 percent over the last month to less than $ 55 a barrel, the lowest in more than a year.
Over the weekend, officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as Russia, agreed to meet this week to discuss the situation in the oil markets, according to two people briefed on the plans. On the agenda are production cuts of up to one million barrels a day, or about 1 percent of world supplies, according to one of the people.
“ They are absolutely trying to put a floor under prices, ” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, a market research firm.
But OPEC may be unlikely to stem the price declines quickly. Ms. Sen said China was already reducing its orders for March from Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC and the world’ s largest oil exporter.
It is too late to cut February orders.
Stocks in China fell about 8 percent in Monday trading as investors returned from a long holiday to the prospect of the world’ s No. 2 economy virtually being shut down by the coronavirus epidemic. The markets had been closed since Jan. 23 for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Other markets in the region were also trading in the red. Shares in Tokyo finished the day down nearly 1 percent, while in Australia they closed down 1.3 percent. Stocks in Hong Kong opened down, but later pared those losses and were flat.
The damage to the stock market was confined to Asia. Stocks in the United States and Europe, which have had nearly two weeks to react, ended higher on Monday.
Separately, China’ s central bank moved to pump $ 173 billion into its financial system on Monday in an emergency move to help government efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
The virus has infected more than 7 million people and has been detected in nearly every country.
Chinese officials tried to reassure the country on Monday that a shortage of medical supplies was being alleviated, that the food supply remained adequate and that food prices, which had been sharply rising, were stable.
Tian Yulong, an official from the industry and information technology ministry, acknowledged the shortages of basic medical and health supplies, but promised to fix them soon.
Describing the availability of medical protective clothing and masks as a “ delicate balance, ” he said that 154,500 sets of protective clothing and 133,600 high-quality masks had been shipped to Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak, by Sunday.
The Vatican also said on Monday that it had sent “ several hundred thousand ” face masks to Hubei and to Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces to help contain the virus’ s spread.
Regarding rising food prices in China, which were a concern even before the coronavirus crisis, Lian Weiliang, a deputy director of national development, said that most of China’ s basic necessities, especially food, would be guaranteed.
He said that the average retail prices of pork, beef, mutton and eggs in 36 large and medium-sized cities nationwide had fallen from previous highs.
China Eastern Airlines, which carried about 1.4 million airline passengers between the United States and China in 2018, has started suspending nonstop flights between the countries.
It appears to be the first major Chinese airline to do so amid escalating concern about the spread of the coronavirus.
The airline has suspended flights between China and Hawaii, Lt. Gov. Josh Green said on Twitter. It also suspended flights arriving or departing from Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, according to a notice to travel agents obtained by CNN.
Airlines headquartered in the United States began announcing limited service with China last week as demand started to decline. Several then announced outright suspensions shortly before the Trump administration announced stringent travel restrictions.
In 2018, a total of 8.5 million people flew on nonstop flights between China and the United States, according to Transportation Department data. Air China carried 1.6 million of those passengers, more than any other airline. United carried 1.5 million, while China Eastern carried 1.4 million.
The handful of American airports still permitted to receive flights from China were scenes of confusion and uncertainty on Monday as the first federally mandated quarantine in more than a half-century — since the era of smallpox — took effect.
“ It feels like trying to leave Paris in 1940 or something — there’ s a bit of panic settling in, ” said Jeffrey Phillips, 41, who was unsure when his wife, Sue, would be able to return to the United States after a trip to visit her family in China.
Americans whose flights took off from China after 5 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday and who had spent time recently in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the epidemic, will be subject to a quarantine of up to two weeks under restrictions announced by the Trump administration. Four United States military bases said they were expecting to house about 1,000 such “ evacuees. ”
China’ s foreign ministry on Monday sharply criticized the United States for its overall response to the epidemic, saying that it was “ creating and spreading fear ” instead of helping contain the coronavirus.
“ In the face of the public health crisis, countries should work together to overcome the difficulties and not shift one’ s troubles onto others, let alone take advantage of people’ s precarious position, ” said Hua Chunying, a ministry spokeswoman.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, traveling in Uzbekistan, said on Monday that the United States was coordinating with Beijing to organize more flights for Americans in Wuhan, and possibly citizens from other countries. He said the administration hoped to use those flights to also deliver medical supplies.
“ We’ re working closely and hand-in-hand with the Chinese Government to try and resolve what is now this global epidemiological challenge, ” he said, according to a State Department transcript.
As more cases of the new coronavirus surface in the United States, federal health officials hope to speed up test results for the virus by distributing kits to public health laboratories around the country.
At a news briefing on Monday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the kits should be distributed to state health laboratories by the end of this week. In the last few weeks, all tests have been conducted at the C.D.C.’ s labs, sometimes resulting in delays of several days for individual results.
The Food and Drug Administration first has to approve the test for wider distribution, the C.D.C. said. The United States has 11 confirmed cases so far.
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that 167 “ patients under investigation ” who had symptoms like cough or fever, and had traveled to Wuhan or been in contact with a patient, had negative test results. A further 82 tests are pending, including some with samples in transit to the agency’ s labs.
The severity of the disease has varied in patients in the United States, Dr. Messonnier said. Some have had mild illness, but a few have been more severely ill, with some needing oxygen. None has died.
Of the 11 patients, nine had been to Wuhan and two were close contacts of patients who had traveled, indicating that person-to-person spread of the virus has occurred in the United States. “ We expect to find additional cases in the United States and we expect more cases of person-to-person spread among close contacts, ” Dr. Messonnier said.
With the C.D.C. already running through its allocations for emergency response funds, the Department of Health and Human Services has formally informed Congress that it may transfer up to $ 136 million to help combat the spread of coronavirus, according to a person with knowledge of the notification.
Of the maximum $ 136 million that the department may transfer, up to $ 75 million would go to the disease centers, up to $ 52 million to the department’ s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and up to $ 8 million to the department’ s Office of Global Affairs. It was unclear where that money would be transferred from.
The State Department plans to repatriate more people from Wuhan, and the C.D.C. has sent four teams to military locations where their flights will land, Dr. Messonnier said. She said she did not know yet how many passengers would be returning.
The travelers will be quarantined for 14 days.
Dr. Messonnier said the C.D.C. has been working with state and local health departments to find places to keep people under quarantine. She said the possibilities could include military bases and hotels, and could vary from state to state.
“ We want to make sure they’ re comfortable, but also make sure they’ re safe and their families and communities are safe, ” Dr. Messonnier said.
Referring to the outbreak inside China, she said: “ A couple of weeks ago there were 41 cases. This morning there were 17,000. This is a novel coronavirus that the population doesn’ t have immunity to. ”
She said: “ Our goal is to slow this thing down. We have the opportunity to slow it down before it gets into the United States. ”
Growing concern about the coronavirus has now led to the cancellation of two major technology meetings.
On Monday, SEMI, an industry association that represents companies in electronics manufacturing, announced that it would postpone a conference in Shanghai. The event is the association’ s largest, and it typically hosts more than 70,000 vendors and attendees in mid-March. A new date has not yet been announced.
Last week, the trade group canceled a separate conference in Seoul, South Korea, that was set to begin this week.
This is only the second time in its 50-year history that SEMI has canceled one of its conferences, which are held throughout the year in different locations around the world.
The last time SEMI canceled an event was during the SARS outbreak.
“ People were concerned that when we have such a large gathering, can we affect more people? ” Ajit Manocha, the president and chief executive of SEMI, said Friday.
The semiconductor industry, which often relies on Chinese manufacturers, has not yet seen supply chains disrupted by travel restrictions, Mr. Manocha said. “ If the outbreak of coronavirus doesn’ t get contained, ” he said, “ then I think it will definitely hurt the supply chain eventually. ”
China’ s leader, Xi Jinping, has not appeared much in public in recent days. But on Monday he oversaw a Communist Party leaders meeting that demanded greater urgency and coordination in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic — which they called “ a major test of China’ s system and capacity for governance. ”
“ Epidemic prevention and control must stick to treating the country as a grand chessboard, ” Mr. Xi said, according to an official account issued by the Xinhua news agency. Officials who resist orders and “ lack boldness ” could be punished, he said.
Mr. Xi’ s comments suggested that at least some regions have been reluctant to devote resources and personnel to the effort.
The focus of the fight remains Hubei, the central Chinese province that has been worst-hit by the virus. The meeting emphasized that other regions must be willing to send medical supplies and workers to Hubei, whose capital, Wuhan, is where the outbreak began.
Party leaders also called for more stringent monitoring to identify and treat carriers of the virus, including policies to track people traveling after China’ s Lunar New Year holiday, which had been extended until Monday because of the epidemic.
The senior officials called for “ well managed propaganda and instruction, as well as opinion guidance, ” suggesting that the government may step up censorship after a surge of reporting and online commentary critical of the government.
The Wuhan coronavirus is a close cousin of the one that caused SARS in 2003, and may have originated in bats, according to two studies published on Monday in the journal Nature.
That is not to say that bats directly infected humans with the new virus: Many scientists believe there was an intermediate host animal, which was infected by bats and then infected humans. Based on the new virus’ s genetic sequence, researchers showed that the virus can bind to receptors in civets and pigs, although they ruled out mice.
The researchers, working in two separate teams from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Fudan University in Shanghai, isolated the virus’ s genome from people who were working at the wet market in Wuhan, China, where the first cases were reported in December 2019. They found that the genetic makeup of the new virus, temporarily called 2019-nCoV, is 79.5 percent similar to that of the SARS coronavirus — a cousin of Wuhan virus that seems to spread more easily, but is less lethal.
The Wuhan coronavirus uses the same receptors, or entry points, to infect human lung cells, which explains how transmission occurs and why some people develop pneumonia.
The Wuhan team, led by Zheng-Li Shi, showed that the novel virus is genetically 96.2 percent similar to a coronavirus that circulates in bats, which served as the origin for the SARS virus. The Fudan University group, led by Yong-Zhen Zhang, reported that the novel coronavirus was 89.1 percent similar to SARS-like coronaviruses in bats.
But the Wuhan coronavirus evolved different mutations than SARS before jumping to humans.
Together, the studies describe early steps toward understanding the novel coronavirus and its evolutionary history. They also provide hope that treatments and vaccines developed for SARS may work for the new virus, experts said.
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on Monday urged the country not to discriminate against the Chinese amid the coronavirus outbreak, a day after his government reported the death of a Chinese man in Manila.
His government has imposed restrictions travel to and from China. But he said on Monday that Chinese flying in from elsewhere would be allowed entry to the Philippines.
“ We are a community of nations, ” Mr. Duterte said in a late-night news briefing after an emergency cabinet meeting. “ We cooperate. China has been kind to us — we can also show the same favor to them. Stop this xenophobia thing. ”
He said that the spread of the virus “ was not the fault of anybody, not of the Chinese, not of the Filipinos, not of anyone. ” Although the first cases of this coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, he said that the virus could have also incubated elsewhere.
Hong Kong’ s government said Monday that it would close four more border crossing points with mainland China, leaving open just three, as the number of coronavirus cases in the city continues to grow.
Updated June 12, 2020
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’ s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “ very rare, ” but she later walked back that statement.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’ s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “ start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, ” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “ When you haven’ t been exercising, you lose muscle mass. ” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’ t being told to stay at home, it’ s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’ s top official, has been under increasing pressure from hospital employees, businesses and even some pro-government lawmakers to further tighten border controls.
More than 2,400 medical workers in Hong Kong went on strike Monday morning to pressure the government to bar entries from mainland China, a number that was expected to grow if the government did not relent.
The medical workers, members of a newly formed union, said they worried that hospitals would be overwhelmed as mainland Chinese seek to use Hong Kong’ s well-respected health care system. Hong Kong itself has 15 confirmed cases of infection.
Mrs. Lam announced measures last week to reduce arrivals from mainland China, but she has resisted a complete closing, calling such a move “ a discriminatory approach ” and not in line with recommendations from the World Health Organization.
Signaling concerns among business executives in the territory, more than half of American business leaders questioned said they wanted Hong Kong’ s government to shut down the border with the mainland, according to a survey of 156 executives by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Russia on Monday suspended passenger rail links to China and North Korea, postponed a major business conference and laid the groundwork to deport foreigners diagnosed with the coronavirus.
All passenger train travel to and from China is halted until further notice, said regional authorities in Russia, which shares a 2,600-mile border with China.
Russia’ s main train operator said it was also suspending passenger service to North Korea in response to a request from Pyongyang. The Russian state-run news service Tass said the move was part of North Korea’ s effort to combat the spread of the virus.
North Korea, which borders both China and Russia, had not officially reported any coronavirus cases to the World Health Organization as of Sunday, but the isolated country has been quarantining people arriving from China. North Korea had also already decided to close its borders to all foreign tourists amid the outbreak.
Two coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia — both of them Chinese citizens — and it was not immediately clear whether Moscow would seek to deport them.
Russia’ s new prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, said on Monday that he would postpone an annual economic forum scheduled to be held at the Black Sea city of Sochi this month. Among the 4,000 registered attendees, about 250 are from countries where coronavirus cases have been confirmed, officials said.
From Amy Qin, a China correspondent, and Elsie Chen, a researcher, on the ground in Wuhan:
People desperate for treatment started descending on a new hospital in Wuhan on Monday that was built within 10 days to fight the coronavirus outbreak. But with workers still trying to finish its construction, many potential patients were turned away.
Road checkpoints were set up to screen cars heading to the hospital. A sign at one read, “ Only diagnosed patients transferred from other hospitals can be admitted. ” Officers at that checkpoint told sick people and their relatives to instead call China’ s emergency number.
One man, Xue Ying, was driving toward the hospital with his cousin, who had been tested for the coronavirus and was awaiting the results.
Mr. Xue believes his mother died from the coronavirus, but they could not secure a bed in a hospital and she was never tested for it. His aunt and uncle were also in a hospital.
“ I can’ t afford to lose anyone else, ” he said.
About 1,400 military medics will begin working at the new hospital, which covers roughly 365,000 square feet and has been fitted with 1,000 beds. A second facility in Wuhan, with 1,500 beds, is expected to be completed this week.
From Amy Qin, a China correspondent, and Elsie Chen, a researcher, on the ground in Wuhan:
Weak with fever, An Jianhua waited in line for seven hours outside the hospital in the cold, hoping to be tested for the new coronavirus, which doctors suspected she had contracted.
Ms. An, 67, needed an official diagnosis from a hospital to qualify for treatment, but the one she and her son raced to last week had no space. The next hospital they were referred to in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the center of the outbreak, was full, too, they said. They finally got an intravenous drip for Ms. An’ s fever, but that was all.
Since then, Ms. An has quarantined herself at home. She and her son eat separately, wear masks and are constantly disinfecting their apartment. Ms. An’ s health is declining rapidly, and even keeping water down is a struggle.
“ I can’ t let my mom die at home, ” said her son, He Jun. “ Every day I want to cry, but when I cry there are no tears. There is no hope. ”
For some people, like Gan Hanjiang, the city’ s new hospitals for treating the coronavirus can not be built fast enough.
Last month, his father came down with a severe fever and cough. He was tested for the coronavirus, but the results were negative. Ten days after the onset of symptoms, however, his father died, Mr. Gan said.
The hospital classified the cause as “ severe pneumonia, ” Mr. Gan said, but he believes it was the coronavirus. Several experts have conceded that several rounds of testing may be needed for an accurate diagnosis.
On the day his father died, Mr. Gan began to show the same symptoms, he said. But without a car, he has not been able to go to one of the designated hospitals to be tested.
“ Getting treatment is so difficult, ” he whispered slowly by telephone from a small hospital near his home where he was being treated for viral pneumonia. “ We can’ t get admitted to the hospitals. And there’ s not enough medicine. ”
Hundreds of citizens from countries including Australia, France, Italy, Brazil, Britain and Rwanda have been evacuated from Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, over the past few days.
Australia flew 243 passengers from Wuhan to an air base in Western Australia on Monday, including 89 passengers under 16 years old and five passengers younger than 2, according to Australia’ s foreign minister, Marise Payne. From there, they will be transported by military planes to Christmas Island, a location previously used to house asylum seekers, where they will be quarantined for two weeks.
The French authorities said on Monday that they had helped repatriate more than 400 people from Wuhan since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. France’ s foreign ministry said that a plane carrying 64 French passengers, 135 from other European Union countries, 55 from countries like Brazil, Britain and Rwanda, plus several dozen consular workers, had landed in southern France on Sunday.
In Italy, a military plane carrying 56 Italian evacuees from Wuhan landed at a military airport about 20 miles south of Rome on Monday morning.
Italy’ s health minister, Roberto Speranza, said that his counterparts from the Group of 7 industrialized nations planned to further discuss the coronavirus in a telephone conference call.
As more governments evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, those left behind in the locked-down city are growing uneasy. Among them are about 50 Nigerians, many of them teachers or students at universities in Wuhan. Some have young children with them.
[ Read: Coronavirus is forcing foreign students in China to choose: stay or go. ]
Lawal Bappah, an official at the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing, said the embassy was monitoring the situation and had been in touch with the Nigerian citizens in Wuhan.
“ What we have recommended so far is that they should continue to maintain their self-isolation, ” Mr. Bappah said. “ The protocol for the evacuation is a very long process. So we are waiting for directives from our authorities. ”
Other African governments have worked to get their citizens out of Wuhan. Morocco’ s king ordered an evacuation last week, according to an official statement. An Algerian plane took off from Algiers on Sunday and was due to pick up Algerian, Libyan, Tunisian and Mauritanian nationals, according to the state news agency Algérie Presse Service.
A day after New York City’ s health authorities said that a woman hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital Center might have the new coronavirus, the authorities said on Sunday that two more patients might also have the virus.
Samples from all three patients must be tested at an Atlanta laboratory run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine whether any of them have the coronavirus.
The turnaround time for receiving the results is usually at least 36 hours, and often longer. Local health departments are not yet able to test for the new illness.
Based on the type of symptoms, the patients’ recent travel in China and the exclusion of influenza and other common illnesses, the New York City health authorities are taking seriously the possibility that these patients may have the virus.
Three more cases were confirmed in California on Sunday, bringing the total in the United States to 11.
While much attention is focused on China’ s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, medical experts worry about looming problems in Southeast Asia, which has the largest cluster of patients with the coronavirus outside China.
The Times’ s Southeast Asia bureau chief, Hannah Beech, reports that some governments in the region have either played down the threat of the epidemic or openly expressed worry about offending China, a superpower whose economic heft can propel their economies.
On Sunday, the first overseas death from the virus, a 44-year-old Wuhan resident who had died a day earlier, was reported in the Philippines. The virus has spread to about two dozen countries.
Medical experts worry that a delayed response to the coronavirus in Southeast Asia could hasten the spread of the disease.
“ Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, ” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’ s director general.
In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen told a packed news conference last week that he would kick out anyone who was wearing a surgical mask because such measures were creating an unwarranted climate of fear. And in Indonesia, the health minister advised citizens to relax and avoid working overtime to stay free of the disease, saying that “ to prevent it is very easy as long as your immunity is good. ”
Reporting was contributed by Alexandra Stevenson, Austin Ramzy, Steven Lee Myers, Chris Buckley, Raymond Zhong, Carlos Tejada, Tiffany May, Elaine Yu, Daniel Victor, Cao Li, Gerry Mullany, Amy Qin, Anton Troianovski, Tess Felder, Jason Gutierrez, Joseph Goldstein, Damien Cave, Hannah Beech, Aurelien Breeden, Elisabetta Povoledo, Stanley Reed, Choe Sang-Hun, Miriam Jordan, Vivian Lin, Thomas Fuller, Richard Fausset, Knvul Sheikh, Vivian Wang, Mariel Padilla, Denise Grady, Emily Cochrane and Niraj Chokshi. Claire Fu contributed research. | business |
SARS Stung the Global Economy. The Coronavirus Is a Greater Menace. | In 2002, when a lethal, pneumonialike virus known as SARS emerged in China, the country’ s factories were mostly churning out low-cost goods like T-shirts and sneakers for customers around the world.
Seventeen years later, another deadly virus is spreading rapidly through the world’ s most populous country. But China has evolved into a principal element of the global economy, making the epidemic a substantially more potent threat to fortunes.
International companies that rely on Chinese factories to make their products and depend on Chinese consumers for sales are already warning of costly problems.
Apple, Starbucks and Ikea have temporarily closed stores in China. Shopping malls are deserted, threatening sales of Nike sneakers, Under Armour clothing and McDonald’ s hamburgers. Factories making cars for General Motors and Toyota are delaying production as they wait for workers to return from the Lunar New Year holiday, which has been extended by the government to halt the spread of the virus. International airlines, including American, Delta, United, Lufthansa and British Airways, have canceled flights to China.
China’ s economic growth is expected to slip this year to 5.6 percent, down from 6.1 percent last year, according to a conservative forecast from Oxford Economics that is based on the impact of the virus so far. That would, in turn, reduce global economic growth for the year by 0.2 percent, to an annual rate of 2.3 percent — the slowest pace since the global financial crisis a decade ago.
Returning from a long holiday for the first time since the coronavirus’ s threat became clear, Chinese investors sent shares in China down about 8 percent on Monday. Stock markets around the world have plunged in recent days as the sense takes hold that a public health crisis could morph into an economic shock.
In a sign of deepening concern, China’ s leaders on Sunday outlined plans to inject fresh credit into the economy. That will include a net $ 22 billion to shore up money markets as well as looser borrowing terms for Chinese companies.
Though China’ s factories still produce a mind-bending array of relatively simple, low-value products like clothing and plastic goods, they have long since achieved dominance in more advanced and lucrative pursuits like smartphones, computers and auto parts. The country has evolved into an essential part of the global supply chain, producing components needed by factories from Mexico to Malaysia.
China has also risen into an enormous consumer market, a nation of 1.4 billion people with a growing appetite for electronic gadgets, fashion apparel and trips to Disneyland. | business |
Thirteen children killed in Kenya primary school stampede | Hi, what are you looking for?
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At least 13 children died and dozens of others were injured in a stampede as they left their primary school in Kenya on Monday, local police said, with investigators still trying to ascertain the cause of the tragedy.
The police have launched an inquiry into what caused the crowd of students to panic, leading to the crush at around 5:00 pm ( 1400 GMT) at the school in the western town of Kakamega.
In the aftermath of the stampede, the police cordoned off the school and took statements from the teaching staff.
Images broadcast by local media showed parents gathered in front of the emergency ward of a hospital in the town, waiting for news of their children.
`` We lost 13 children in this stampede and others are in hospital due to injuries, '' Kakamega's police chief David Kabena told reporters at the scene.
`` We have launched an investigation to establish what exactly happened, '' he added.
One of the children's mothers blamed the teachers.
`` Those who survived said they were running because there were teachers who were beating them, and that is why they were escaping and fell on each other, '' the mother said in an interview with local media.
She said the children were mostly in grade five, aged between 10 and 12.
Corporal punishment is banned in Kenya.
The Kakamega Primary School did not immediately comment on the incident.
`` We are devastated by the tragedy that has hit Kakamega Primary School this evening, '' said Kenya's Vice President William Ruto in a post on Twitter.
`` Our prayers, love and thoughts to the families and relatives of the victims of the misfortune. ''
Kenya Red Cross said on Twitter that it was setting up psychological support services, as well as a `` tracing desk '' to help relatives locate potentially affected students.
The Red Cross said 39 students had been admitted to a local hospital.
St John's Ambulance meanwhile tweeted that at least 14 students had been killed and more than 50 injured, including two who were in an intensive care unit. Some 37 had been treated and discharged from hospital.
The tragedy comes just two days after 20 people were killed in a stampede at an open-air evangelical Christian church service over the border in Tanzania.
In 2016, nine students were killed by a fire at a girls ' high school in the Kibera neighbourhood of Kenya's capital Nairobi.
At least 13 children died and dozens of others were injured in a stampede as they left their primary school in Kenya on Monday, local police said, with investigators still trying to ascertain the cause of the tragedy.
The police have launched an inquiry into what caused the crowd of students to panic, leading to the crush at around 5:00 pm ( 1400 GMT) at the school in the western town of Kakamega.
In the aftermath of the stampede, the police cordoned off the school and took statements from the teaching staff.
Images broadcast by local media showed parents gathered in front of the emergency ward of a hospital in the town, waiting for news of their children.
“ We lost 13 children in this stampede and others are in hospital due to injuries, ” Kakamega’ s police chief David Kabena told reporters at the scene.
“ We have launched an investigation to establish what exactly happened, ” he added.
One of the children’ s mothers blamed the teachers.
“ Those who survived said they were running because there were teachers who were beating them, and that is why they were escaping and fell on each other, ” the mother said in an interview with local media.
She said the children were mostly in grade five, aged between 10 and 12.
Corporal punishment is banned in Kenya.
The Kakamega Primary School did not immediately comment on the incident.
“ We are devastated by the tragedy that has hit Kakamega Primary School this evening, ” said Kenya’ s Vice President William Ruto in a post on Twitter.
“ Our prayers, love and thoughts to the families and relatives of the victims of the misfortune. ”
Kenya Red Cross said on Twitter that it was setting up psychological support services, as well as a “ tracing desk ” to help relatives locate potentially affected students.
The Red Cross said 39 students had been admitted to a local hospital.
St John’ s Ambulance meanwhile tweeted that at least 14 students had been killed and more than 50 injured, including two who were in an intensive care unit. Some 37 had been treated and discharged from hospital.
The tragedy comes just two days after 20 people were killed in a stampede at an open-air evangelical Christian church service over the border in Tanzania.
In 2016, nine students were killed by a fire at a girls’ high school in the Kibera neighbourhood of Kenya’ s capital Nairobi.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Australians trapped in coronavirus centre Wuhan can take New Zealand evacuation flight | Trapped Australians still seeking a way out of the coronavirus centre of Wuhan will be able to board a New Zealand government evacuation flight to leave the sequestered city, possibly as early as Tuesday evening.
Wellington’ s rescue mission for its citizens has seen about 70 New Zealand citizens register to leave. The remaining seats on the aircraft will be filled with Australians, Samoans and Tongans who have correct travel and identity documents, and who pass health checks, NZ health minister David Clark said.
Final timing of the flight and passenger details are still to be confirmed, in consultation with Chinese authorities, but there is growing expectation the aircraft will be given approval to land in Wuhan late Tuesday local time and to fly out again later that night.
New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders evacuated from Wuhan will spend 14 days at a military base at Whangaparaoa, just north of Auckland.
“ The training camp has been chosen because of its size and facilities, as well as its location and secure nature. It also has its own medical facilities, ” Clark said.
Australian citizens are likely to be flown across the continent to Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, for quarantining.
“ It is expected that any Australian citizens and residents will be transferred on to a dedicated flight – with its own health measures in place – across the Tasman in coordination with the Australian government, ” Clark said.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed negotiations were ongoing between the two governments. “ Australia is working closely with New Zealand on a potential assisted departure of a further group of Australians on an Air New Zealand flight this week, subject to availability, ” a department spokesperson said.
Wuhan, in China’ s central Hubei province, is the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak which has infected more than 17,400 people and killed 362. All but one of the deaths have been in China.
Across the world’ s most populous country, more than 50 million people are on lockdown, unable to leave.
Meanwhile, the first of 243 Australian citizens and permanent residents who flew out of Wuhan Monday morning have arrived on Christmas Island to begin a 14-day quarantine period.
Qantas Flight 6032 touched down at Learmonth RAAF base in Western Australia shortly after 4pm local time.
Evacuees were then moved to smaller aircraft and flown to Christmas Island, arriving overnight.
While some passengers were transferred immediately to Christmas Island, others will take longer: transit accommodation and dining areas have been set up for some passengers.
One passenger was taken to Perth from Exmouth, suffering an unrelated health condition that could not be treated on Christmas Island.
On the island, a field hospital, screening and testing rooms have been set up to manage the arrivals. Generators, medical equipment and supplies have all been flown from the mainland.
An Australian Medical Assistance ( Ausmat) team, which includes doctors, nurses, paediatric specialists and logistics experts, arrived at the weekend in preparation. The 23-person medical crew will remain isolated with the passengers inside the detention centre for the duration of the quarantine period.
The evacuees from China have been separated into families and small groups, and isolated from each other, so that any potential outbreaks of the virus are contained to as few people as possible. All passengers underwent health checks, screening for symptoms of the virus before boarding.
Of the 243 passengers, 89 were aged under 16, including five infants. “ We have prioritised vulnerable and isolated Australians, ” the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, said.
With Australia imposing a travel ban on all visitors who have left or transited through mainland China from 1 February, the federal education minister Dan Tehan met with the Universities Australia Board to discuss ways to minimise the coronavirus outbreak’ s impact on Australia’ s tertiary education system.
Chinese students make up 38% of the international students in the country, and bring an estimated $ 12bn into the higher education system and in related spending.
“ Our government will work to provide surety to students and academics whose visas are impacted by the Australian government’ s response to the coronavirus, ” Tehan said.
“ The safety and wellbeing of all of our students, both in Australia and abroad, is foremost in our minds. The Australian community has welcomed international students to our country and they have become important members of our higher education sector and the local communities in which they live. ”
Twelve cases of coronavirus have been reported in Australia. | general |
As China battles coronavirus, should other countries worry about their drug supply? | Worries about pharma's reliance on China for its supply of key drug ingredients have popped up in the U.S. from time to time before. Now, the rising coronavirus has sparked the fear again.
As of Sunday, China had reported more than 17,205 confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV in humans. The death toll has reached 361. The mushrooming case count and various measures aimed at thwarting the disease are straining medical supplies in China, though it's mostly protection products, such as masks, running short so far.
But as the virus continues to spread across China and beyond, one question emerges: If China prioritizes drugs for its own use amid surging domestic demand—or if the outbreak spurs further bans on international travel and trade, such as the restrictions now imposed by the U.S.—can other parts of the world sustain an adequate drug supply?
The story of CMIC’ s rise from being a startup in a one-room apartment to a multinational leader is defined by an ability and readiness to foresee the changing needs of biopharma companies and adapt accordingly. With pipelines primed to continue evolving in the coming years, that adaptable approach is now more important than ever.
There's no question that China is a major supplier of drug ingredients to the U.S., especially for widely used generics. For example, according to U.S. International Trade Commission data cited in a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
( PDF), China accounted for a 70.4% share of U.S. antibiotic imports in 2013. Today, that number may be even higher at a dominant 97%, according to Gary Cohn, previously chief economic adviser to President Donald Trump, as quoted by Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at nonprofit think tank
And questions about that dependence on Chinese sources for essential medicines have repeatedly surfaced in the U.S.—once as tainted
was first traced to an API from China’ s Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical, once amid U.S.-China trade tension and once as an
threatened heparin supply. And that's just in the last few years.
For instance, in the heat of the now partly resolved U.S.-China trade war, Li Daokui, an economist at Tsinghua University and an adviser to Beijing, raised the possibility of China curbing exports of antibiotics as a countermeasure.
( Chinese). “ If we cut back exports, some western countries’ medical system won’ t operate well. ”
China at least isn’ t likely to throw the first punch. As CFR’ s Huang noted in his blog post, China needs innovative finished drugs made in western countries for diseases such as cancer. However, the coronavirus epidemic adds a different fold of uncertainty: domestic demand.
Supplies of a traditional Chinese herbal concoction called Shuanghuanglian immediately ran out both online and in pharmacies after state media reported Friday that the drug could “ inhibit ” the new deadly coronavirus.
The report cited research at the Chinese Academy of Science’ s Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Even though the idea was quickly rejected by the wider science community, it does show China—with a population of 1.4 billion—can deplete drug supplies amid an epidemic. By that time, it simply might not have enough left for the rest of the world.
in a Stat report. “ And remember, this isn’ t just a U.S. problem. It’ s a global problem if China starts shutting down its borders. ” | tech |
Beijing in the Time of Coronavirus: No Traffic, Empty Parks and Fear | BEIJING — The Apple stores were among the busiest places still open in Beijing after the coronavirus outbreak, though employees forbade customers to try the watches or AirPods.
Some people ventured in out of necessity, as ever. “ My laptop is broken, ” one woman said. For others they provided a rare communal gathering space, a break from the isolation, anxiety and fear that have settled on the city of 23 million ever since the epidemic began to emanate from central China.
Now the stores have closed, along with theaters, museums, cinemas, temples, barbers, hair salons, karaoke bars, and most other shops and restaurants. The Forbidden City has shut down “ until further notice, ” as has a popular section of the Great Wall in the breezy, wintry hills to the northeast, far from urban congestion.
[ Read: How to survive an outbreak. ]
Beijing is not under a strict, government-ordered lockdown, like that in Wuhan and other cities at the center of the epidemic. It has, however, imposed restrictions on practically every aspect of life since declaring “ the highest level of public health emergency ” on Jan. 24.
This shutdown in all but name is occurring in city after city across China, disrupting life and creating dystopian vistas of a suddenly depopulated country.
Fliers from the Beijing government have been posted on shop windows and apartment buildings, urging everyone to take necessary precautions. Residents were encouraged to avoid “ crowded places or public gatherings ” — though most of those, including festivals celebrating the lunar new year, were canceled anyway.
Many stores and shopping centers have set up temperature checks for anyone entering. Some, including the Yves Saint Laurent in the upscale Sanlitun shopping district, have posted signs refusing entry to anyone not wearing a mask.
Suspicion has become its own contagion. “ Stay there, ” warned one man playing badminton with his daughter in Chaoyang Park, both wearing masks. “ Don’ t get close to us. ”
Like most major cities, Beijing is a place of migrants seeking a better way of life, but now anyone from outside the capital has encountered open hostility — particularly those from Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak.
Some neighborhoods took it upon themselves to set up checkpoints and guard posts, prepared to turn away those who were returning from the infected zones after the Lunar New Year holidays.
One was Xifuheyuan, an apartment complex in eastern Beijing. Signs were posted announcing that anyone coming from Hubei would be sent to a hotel for 14 days of quarantine. It was not clear exactly how the complex’ s guards intended to enforce the edict, but one who was carrying out checks promised that the authorities would foot the bill.
“ The party is warmhearted, ” the guard said, declining to give his name.
As word of checkpoints spread, Beijing’ s deputy secretary general, Chen Bei, hastened to announce on Saturday that the authorities would not tolerate viral vigilantism.
At the same time, the city’ s official announcements have encouraged anyone who has recently visited Hubei or been in contact with anyone who had to “ inform your community authority. ”
The Center for Disease Control even sent text messages to residents traveling to the infected region — apparently using information from cellular service providers — to abide by the lockdown in Wuhan and not return to Beijing. “ We’ ve been worrying about you all this time! ” the text read.
Beijing residents originally from Hubei — everyone’ s hometown is written on their national identification card — have in turn faced intrusive questioning about their travels or any visits from relatives, all in the name of public health.
The city, at last count, had 212 coronavirus cases and one death, though those figures might rise. A city official announced on Monday that five medical workers at Fuxing Hospital had been infected.
By all appearances, most Beijing residents have accepted the official advice and simply stayed home.
The effect has been to slow the sprawling capital — the second-largest city in China after Shanghai and the beating heart of the Communist Party state — to an eerie, uncharacteristic crawl. Buses and subway trains are running, but they are nearly empty of passengers. Traffic, which is usually chronically bad, has disappeared.
Even China’ s celebrated delivery drivers — the frenetic, ice-in-their-veins food and package scooter riders who have accelerated the country’ s e-commerce boom — have seen work plummet. Some delivery companies have offered “ no touch ” service for food deliveries, while others have sent drivers with certificates recording their temperatures.
One driver, Liu Chaohui, complained that business had fallen 90 percent since the outbreak started, defying conventional wisdom that people stuck at home would be ordering in.
“ I’ m going to quit after this month if it continues to be like this, ” he said.
The epidemic burst into public view only days before the start of the Lunar New Year, a weeklong holiday during which millions of people nationwide travel to their ancestral homes.
The holiday should have ended last Friday, but Beijing officials extended it through Monday and effectively extended it again by ordering nonessential employees to work from home until at least Feb. 10.
The order excluded essential industries, including hospitals and clinics, municipal workers, and retailers and restaurants. A few restaurants remained open throughout the holiday, but most shut down and are now struggling to reopen, in part because so many workers who left the city have had a hard time returning.
Updated June 12, 2020
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “ very rare, ” but she later walked back that statement.
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’ s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’ s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “ start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, ” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “ When you haven’ t been exercising, you lose muscle mass. ” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’ t being told to stay at home, it’ s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
The pace of the city picked up only marginally on Monday, in large part because of the return of government workers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held its daily briefing, though virtually, taking questions sent by WeChat, the country’ s ubiquitous social media platform.
At Beijing Capital International Airport, a new banner hanging in the concourse for the express train from the city center hailed those helping to contain the coronavirus. “ Kudos to all the medical workers who fight against the epidemic at the front line and all volunteers in society! ” it read.
One place showing frenetic activity was the grounds of Xiaotangshan Hospital in northern Beijing. It was built in seven days in 2003 to treat patients of the SARS epidemic and is now being renovated.
In previous years, the Lunar New Year holiday slowed the city down but not the parks, museums, shopping malls and other public places where people spent their free time. Now even the public places that are open are practically empty.
In the Temple of Earth, a park north of Tiananmen Square, the public chorus that gathers to sing every morning has stopped coming. So have the regular groups of people juggling shuttlecocks with their feet, and the hardy retirees who regularly work out on the exercise equipment in the park’ s northeast corner.
The only sound in the park on a recent day was a loudspeaker announcement repeating the advice posted on fliers about avoiding crowded places, refraining from spitting and washing hands frequently. Anyone entering any park must, by government edict, wear a mask and have their temperature checked.
Not far from the Temple of Earth, the Lama Temple, the city’ s most important Buddhist site, remains closed in what would normally have been its busiest season.
Wang Haixia, a 62-year-old retiree, stood watch on Monday on a nearby street. She was one of hundreds of volunteers, sporting red arm bands to convey authority, who have answered a call from the Communist Party to do their part in this time of challenge.
“ We’ re just overlooking the neighborhood, ” she explained, adding that she and her colleagues would call the local authorities the moment it seemed necessary to do so.
No one knows when things will get back to normal.
“ Of course, all of us want this to end as early as possible, ” Ms. Wang said. “ Nobody wants to live their life like this. ”
Research was contributed by Claire Fu, Zoe Mou and Amber Wang in Beijing, and Elaine Yu in Hong Kong. | business |
US coronavirus: There are 11 confirmed cases of the virus that has killed more than 420 people in China |
While the
Wuhan coronavirus
keeps spreading within the United States, health officials are trying to rush testing capabilities across the country.
Right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is the only place in the United States that can confirm whether a patient has the virus, which has killed
more than 420 people
and infected more than 17,000 in China.
Around the world, more than 170 confirmed cases have been reported in
more than 20 countries.
Everything travelers need to know about Wuhan coronavirus
CDC officials said they're trying to expedite the `` emergency use authorization '' for tests so more parts of the United States can test for and diagnose the Wuhan coronavirus.
`` The process is extremely expedited, and our colleagues at ( the US Food and Drug Administration) have been working with us closely ever since we made the plan that we were going to do this in this way, '' said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Read More
Her comments Monday came a day after officials confirmed three new cases of infection in California. That brings
the state's total to six cases
and the nationwide total to 11.
On Sunday officials said a San Benito County man who had recently returned from Wuhan, China, and his wife have the virus. Both were isolating themselves in their home.
The man arrived at San Francisco International Airport on January 24 and was screened and found to be healthy and asymptomatic, said Dr. Martin Fenstersheib, the county's interim public health officer.
As coronavirus spreads, TSA issues new directive for anyone entering the US from China
But the next day, the man developed symptoms including a cough and low-grade fever, Fenstersheib said. A few days later, his wife began showing symptoms as well. The couple had stayed at home since the husband's arrival, Fenstersheib said.
But on Monday the couple was transported from San Benito County to an undisclosed hospital in San Francisco, said Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Also Sunday, officials confirmed a woman who recently traveled from Wuhan to Santa Clara County also has the virus. The woman's case is the second in Santa Clara County, though officials said the cases are unrelated.
Elsewhere in California, Orange and Los Angeles counties each have had one confirmed case.
The World Health Organization ( WHO)
declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern
last week. A number of countries -- including the United States -- started evacuating their nationals on flights from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China where the virus was first detected.
This is where coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide
The United States
issued a level 4 travel advisory
warning residents not to travel to China,
adding that most commercial air carriers
have reduced or suspended flights to and from the country.
A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry accused the US government Monday of responding inappropriately to the outbreak and feeding mass hysteria.
`` Most countries appreciate and support China's efforts to fight against the novel coronavirus, and we understand and respect them when they adopt or enhance quarantine measures at border entry, '' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
`` But in the meantime, some countries, the US in particular, have inappropriately overreacted, which certainly runs counter to WHO advice. ''
Not everyone who has the virus went to China
The San Benito couple's diagnosis is the second person-to-person transmission of the virus reported in the United States.
China's coronavirus death toll overtakes SARS
In Chicago, a woman in her 60s was diagnosed after she returned from Wuhan on January 13. She is in a hospital and doing `` quite well, '' her doctors said.
The CDC said the Chicago woman had transmitted the virus to her husband, who had not traveled to China. But he was in close contact with his wife during a long period of time when she was symptomatic, the Illinois Department of Public Health said.
Other US cases of Wuhan coronavirus include a student at the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts.
In Arizona, officials said, an `` adult member '' of the Arizona State University community was infected. And in Washington state, a man in his 30s sought treatment after returning from Wuhan.
More US citizens are about to be evacuated
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday said the United States will send additional flights to China to evacuate Americans from Hubei Province.
What we know about the coronavirus cases in the US
`` The exact timing of those we are still coordinating with the Chinese government but we anticipate that they will happen in the next handful of days... we 'll return those American citizens, '' Pompeo said.
`` We may well end up bringing some citizens back from other countries as well. We're working through the details on that. ''
That announcement came after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared the coronavirus a public health emergency in the United States.
He said American citizens who were in Hubei Province in the past two weeks `` will be subject to up to 14 days of mandatory quarantine. ''
The CDC ordered a federal 14-day quarantine for those passengers -- the first such order in more than half a century.
CNN's Jacqueline Howard, Christina Ruffini, Steven Jiang and Daniel Allman contributed to this report. | general |
ZeroHedge banned from Twitter over coronavirus bioweapon claims | The financial news website came under fire for doxxing a Chinese scientist accused of being behind the virus.
Charlie Osborne is a cybersecurity journalist and photographer who writes for ZDNet and CNET from London. PGP Key: AF40821B.
ZeroHedge has been permanently suspended from Twitter following a complaint stemming from an article that suggested a Chinese scientist was linked to the creation of the new coronavirus strain as a bioweapon.
The financial markets news website was the subject of a recent Buzzfeed report which examined the article -- still online at the time of writing -- which connected a Wuhan-based scientist to the virus.
ZeroHedge claimed, without evidence, that the scientist was involved in the development of the `` weaponized '' coronavirus strain.
In addition, the publication doxxed the scientist by publishing his name, photograph, contact details, and the added comment, `` Something tells us, if anyone wants to find out what really caused the coronavirus pandemic that has infected thousands of people in China and around the globe, they should probably pay [ the scientist ] a visit. ''
ZeroHedge received a notification on Friday that the outlet's account would be suspended due to claims of violating Twitter's `` rules against abuse and harassment. ''
The microblogging platform confirmed the suspension, telling Reuters that ZeroHedge fell afoul of `` platform manipulation policy. ''
It was originally thought the suspension was due to a separate ZeroHedge article on the composition of the virus; however, the ban was due to the doxxing article. Before its suspension, the account catered for over 670,000 followers.
Last week, Twitter said there have already been over 15 million tweets related to the coronavirus and while no `` significant coordinated attempts to spread disinformation at scale about this issue '' has been detected at present, the firm warned publishers that `` those who engage in these practices will be removed from our service. ''
The emergence of the coronavirus outbreak has prompted a rash of conspiracy theories, including the apparent source of the outbreak being Chinese labs or bat soup; fake cures including bleach washes, and the virus itself apparently a creation subject to a patent.
Facebook is also attempting to tackle the spread of disinformation with a team of fact-checkers. Notifications are being sent to users who have shared fake coronavirus content and some organizations are being offered the chance to run free coronavirus education ad campaigns.
The World Health Organization ( WHO) has declared the spread of novel coronavirus as a global health emergency. Hundreds of people in China have died, the US has cautioned travelers against going to the country, and other countries including the United Kingdom are attempting to repatriate citizens and fly them out of Wuhan. According to Worldometer, over 17,000 cases have been reported.
Disease experts are becoming increasingly concerned that the virus may become a global pandemic, with countries less-equipped to deal with the emerging illness and with more fragile healthcare systems being potential hotspots for contagion.
Researchers from IBM recently discovered cybercriminals who are targeting Japanese citizens by pretending to be a disability welfare service provider, taking advantage of panic in order to spread malware. Phishing emails claim that coronavirus cases have been reported in the Gifu, Tottori and Osaka prefectures in Japan and urge recipients to read an attached leaflet that contains the Emotet Trojan.
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GSK makes adjuvant available to coronavirus vaccine project | to make its adjuvant technology available to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ ( CEPI) effort to create a prophylactic against the coronavirus radiating out from China. | tech |
Hong Kong closes more borders to Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, as China death toll overtakes SARS |
In a matter of weeks, the number of Wuhan coronavirus deaths in mainland China has overtaken the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) epidemic in the country, as
Beijing injected billions of dollars
into an economy hit by effective shutdowns to major cities.
Since its outbreak in December, more than
360 people have died
of the disease in China, the country's health authorities said Monday. The total number of cases in mainland China stood at 17,205 as of Sunday evening, an increase of over 2,800 on the previous day, or almost 20%.
The 2003 outbreak of SARS -- another coronavirus strand -- infected 5,327 people in mainland China, with 349 deaths. There were 8,098 confirmed cases of SARS worldwide from November 2002 to July 2003, with 774 deaths globally.
The first death from the virus outside China
was confirmed over the weekend
. Philippine health officials said that a 44-year-old Chinese man died Saturday after flying into the country from Wuhan.
So far, more than 180 cases have been reported outside of China -- the majority of them with a direct link to the country -- across more than 25 countries and territories worldwide. Many countries have begun closing their borders to visitors from China, with major airlines canceling flights to and from the country.
Read More
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Monday announced new border closures over the Wuhan virus, amid intense public pressure to stop anyone crossing into the city from mainland China. Lam said further measures were being taken `` to ensure the control of the boundary control points to reduce people movement across the border, '' but fell short of a complete sealing off of the city.
Germany confirmed its 10th case on Sunday, and there were also new cases reported in South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Macao and Hong Kong. The United States, Australia and New Zealand have all announced that they will not allow foreign nationals who have traveled from or transited through China to enter. Nationals from those countries will face mandatory quarantine on arrival.
The G7 nations will hold a joint telephone conference to discuss how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced after talking with his American counterpart Alex Azar on Sunday.
Economic pain
In China, Monday is supposed to be the first day back at work after an extended Lunar New Year holiday ended on February 2.
However much of the country will not be returning, with multiple local authorities extending the break in an attempt to avoid further spread of the virus. Hubei, the central Chinese province of which Wuhan is the capital, will lengthen its holiday by an `` appropriate extent, ''
authorities said Saturday
, while Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and the manufacturing provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang will also reportedly
remain on holiday
until at least next week.
With much of China's economic heartland still closed, concerns are growing over the impact to the Chinese economy. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets -- which have been closed since January 24 -- plunged by around 10% on opening Monday.
The People's Bank of China said Sunday it would inject 1.2 trillion yuan ( $ 173 billion) into the Chinese markets in order to ensure `` reasonably ample liquidity '' in the banking system and keep currency markets stable.
The net amount of liquidity being injected into the markets will be much lower, however. According to Reuters calculations using central bank data, more than 1 trillion yuan worth of other short-term bond sales will mature Monday. That brings the net amount of cash flooding into the markets down to 150 billion yuan ( $ 21.4 billion).
State news agency Xinhua on Monday
published
a defiant commentary headlined `` Chinese economy resilient enough to counter virus shock. ''
`` The epidemic will eventually come to an end, just like the winter will fade away. The negative implications of the virus on the Chinese economy will be short-lived, and the economic fundamentals are solid enough to withstand its blow, '' Xinhua said. `` Doomsayers take this chance to hype again the China-collapse theory. But seasoned observers disagree. ''
It quoted a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank saying that while the economic impact in the first quarter will likely be big, perhaps driving nationwide annual growth down a percentage point, `` it will be substantially offset by above-the-trend growth in the rest of the year if the epidemic can be contained soon. ''
Fight to control the virus
In Wuhan itself, the epicenter of the virus outbreak where most of the deaths have been reported, there was a glimmer of hope Monday, as the first of two purpose-built hospitals opened for business.
The hospitals
, built in about a week by thousands of workers on round-the-clock shifts and based on a similar plan used during the 2003 SARS outbreak, will be run by People's Liberation Army medical personnel.
They will add thousands of extra beds to Wuhan's extremely strained medical system. Thousands of health workers, including PLA medics, have also been dispatched to help out in ordinary hospitals in the city and other parts of Hubei.
But while Wuhan should be seeing some additional capacity Monday, Hong Kong will be seeing the opposite. Health care workers in the semi-autonomous Chinese city began a five-day strike on Monday over what they see as the failure of the city's government to fully shut the border with China. They are demanding a full border closure and greater support from the government.
In announcing the new border closures, Lam said further measures were being taken `` to ensure the control of the boundary control points to reduce people movement across the border, '' but fell short of completely sealing off the city.
Lam said the main land borders at Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau would shut as of midnight tonight, as would the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal.
That will leave all but three border crossings between Hong Kong and mainland China closed. Those which remain open are the city's international airport, the Shenzhen Bay border and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.
There is widespread fear in Hong Kong -- where 15 coronavirus cases have been confirmed so far -- of a repeat of SARS, which infected more than 1,700 people and killed 286 in 2003.
Most front line medical workers will not strike, their unions said, in order to continue serving the public, but backroom and support staff will walk out.
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Medical staff wearing protective suits ride down an escalator at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport on Wednesday, March 18.
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Hasidic Jewish men take part in a
`` social distancing '' minyan
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A patient in a biocontainment unit is carried on a stretcher in Rome on March 17.
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People gather to collect free face masks in New Delhi on March 17.
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Dermot Hickey, left, and Phillip Vega ask a pedestrian in New York to take their picture on a thinly trafficked Fifth Avenue on March 17. Many streets across the world are much more bare as people distance themselves from others. In the United States, the White House has advised people
not to gather in groups of more than 10.
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Students at the Attarkiah Islamic School wear face masks during a ceremony in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat on March 17.
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People wait outside a Woolworths store in Sunbury, Australia on March 17. Australian supermarket chains announced special shopping hours for the elderly and people with disabilities so that they can shop in less crowded aisles.
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A member of Spain's Military Emergencies Unit carries out a general disinfection at the Malaga airport on Monday, March 16.
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Displaced families near Atme, Syria, attend a workshop aimed at spreading awareness about the coronavirus.
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French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on a screen in Paris as he announces new coronavirus containment measures on March 16.
France has been put on lockdown,
and all nonessential outings are outlawed and can draw a fine of up to €135 ( $ 148). Macron also promised to support French businesses by guaranteeing €300 billion worth of loans and suspending rent and utility bills owed by small companies.
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A police officer checks the temperatures of bus passengers at a checkpoint in Manila, Philippines, on March 16.
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Two nuns greet neighbors from their balcony in Turin, Italy, on Sunday, March 15.
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Pope Francis, inside the Church of San Marcello in Rome's city center,
prays at a famous crucifix
that believers claim helped to save Romans from the plague in 1522.
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Passengers wait for their flights at Marrakesh Airport in Morocco on March 15.
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US Vice President Mike Pence takes a question during a White House briefing about the coronavirus on March 15.
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being made to wait for hours
at US airports, often in close quarters, as personnel screened them for the coronavirus.
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Hundreds of people lined up to enter a Costco in Novato, California, on March 14. Many people have been stocking up on food, toilet paper and other items. As a response to
panic buying,
retailers in the United States and Canada have started limiting the number of toilet paper that customers can buy in one trip.
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A member of the White House physician's office takes a media member's temperature in the White House briefing room on March 14. It was ahead of a news conference with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
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Reporters in Arlington, Virginia, sit approximately 4 feet apart during a briefing by Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie on Friday, March 13.
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Employees of the Greek Parliament wear plastic gloves ahead of the swearing-in ceremony for Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
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Paul Boyer, head equipment manager of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, wheels out equipment bags in Washington on Thursday, March 12. The NHL is among the sports leagues that have suspended their seasons.
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Students leave Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish, Washington, on March 12. Beginning the following day, schools in the Snohomish school district planned to be closed through April 24.
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People at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, watch a live broadcast of US President Donald Trump on March 12. Trump announced that, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, he would
sharply restrict travel
from more than two dozen European countries.
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Workers in protective suits disinfect Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace on March 11.
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A person wearing a face mask walks outside of a shopping mall in Beijing on March 11.
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Police officers restrain the relative of an inmate outside the Sant'Anna jail in Modena, Italy, on March 9.
Riots broke out
in several Italian jails after visits were suspended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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Medical staff in Wuhan, China, celebrate after all coronavirus patients were discharged from a temporary hospital on March 9.
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 9.
Stocks plummeted
as coronavirus worries and an oil price race to the bottom weighed on global financial markets.
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Rescuers search for victims at the site of a
collapsed hotel
in Quanzhou, China, on March 8. The hotel was being used as a coronavirus quarantine center.
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The Grand Princess cruise ship, carrying at least 21 people who tested positive for coronavirus, is seen off the coast of San Francisco on March 8.
The ship was being held at sea.
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Sumo wrestlers attend a tournament in Osaka, Japan, that was being held behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak.
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A couple rides a bicycle at a park in Seoul, South Korea, on March 7.
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A volunteer from Blue Sky Rescue uses fumigation equipment to disinfect a residential compound in Beijing on March 5.
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Airmen from the California National Guard drop coronavirus testing kits down to the
Grand Princess cruise ship
off the coast of California on March 5.
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Municipal workers are seen at the Kaaba, inside Mecca's Grand Mosque. Saudi Arabia emptied Islam's holiest site for sterilization over coronavirus fears, an unprecedented move after the kingdom suspended the year-round Umrah pilgrimage.
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Passengers react as a worker wearing a protective suit disinfects the departure area of a railway station in Hefei, China, on March 4.
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Teachers at the Nagoya International School in Japan conduct an online class for students staying at home as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.
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Soldiers spray disinfectant throughout a shopping street in Seoul.
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A Muslim worshipper attends a mass prayer against coronavirus in Dakar, Senegal, on March 4. It was after cases were confirmed in the country.
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People wear face masks in New York's Times Square on March 3. New York reported its first case of coronavirus two days earlier.
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A security guard stands on the Shibuya Sky observation deck in Tokyo on March 3.
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US President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, speaks during a meeting with pharmaceutical executives and the White House coronavirus task force on March 2. Throughout
the meeting,
Trump was hyperfocused on pressing industry leaders in the room for a timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and treatment. But experts at the table -- from the administration and the pharmaceutical industry -- repeatedly emphasized that a vaccine can't be rushed to market before it's been declared safe for the public.
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Medical staff stand outside a hospital in Daegu, South Korea, on March 1.
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Healthcare workers transfer a patient at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, on March 1. The long-term care facility is linked to confirmed coronavirus cases.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a London laboratory of the Public Health England National Infection Service.
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Tomoyuki Sugano, a professional baseball player on the Yomiuri Giants, throws a pitch in an empty Tokyo Dome during a preseason game on February 29. Fans have been barred from preseason games to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
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Commuters wearing masks make their way to work during morning rush hour at the Shinagawa train station in Tokyo on February 28.
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Medical staff transport a coronavirus patient within the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on February 28.
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Inter Milan plays Ludogorets in an empty soccer stadium in Milan, Italy, on February 27. The match
was ordered to be played behind closed doors
as Italian authorities continue to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
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A bank clerk disinfects banknotes in China's Sichuan province on February 26.
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A child wearing a protective face mask rides on a scooter in an empty area in Beijing.
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A Catholic devotee wears a face mask as he is sprinkled with ash during Ash Wednesday services in Paranaque, Philippines, on February 26.
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People disinfect Qom's Masumeh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on February 25.
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A worker in Daegu stacks plastic buckets containing medical waste from coronavirus patients on February 24.
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Paramedics carry a stretcher off an ambulance in Hong Kong on February 23.
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People attend a professional soccer match in Kobe, Japan, on February 23. To help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the soccer club Vissel Kobe
told fans not to sing, chant or wave flags
in the season opener against Yokohama FC.
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A team of volunteers disinfects a pedestrian bridge in Bangkok, Thailand.
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A man rides his bike in Beijing on February 23.
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Hospital personnel in Codogno, Italy, carry new beds inside the hospital on February 21. The hospital is hosting some people who have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
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Doctors look at a CT scan of a lung at a hospital in Xiaogan, China, on February 20.
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A sales clerk wears a mask as she waits for customers at a hat shop in Beijing on February 18.
Small companies that help drive China's economy
are worried about how much damage
the coronavirus outbreak will cause to business.
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Buses carrying American passengers arrive at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo on February 17. The passengers
were leaving the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship
to be repatriated to the United States.
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A medical worker rests at the isolation ward of the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on February 16.
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Authorities watch as the Westerdam cruise ship approaches a port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on February 13. Despite having no confirmed cases of coronavirus on board, the Westerdam was refused port by four other Asian countries before being allowed to dock in Cambodia.
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A worker has his temperature checked on a shuttered commercial street in Beijing on February 12.
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Beds are made in the Wuhan Sports Center, which has been converted into a temporary hospital.
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A child rides a scooter past a police officer wearing protective gear outside the Hong Mei House in Hong Kong on February 11. More than 100 people evacuated the housing block after four residents in two different apartments tested positive for the coronavirus.
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Relatives of quarantined passengers wave at the Diamond Princess cruise ship as it leaves a port in Yokohama, Japan, to dump wastewater and generate potable water. Dozens of people on the ship
were infected with coronavirus.
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The Deneway branch of the County Oak Medical Centre is closed amid coronavirus fears in Brighton, England, on February 11. Several locations in and around Brighton were quarantined after
a man linked to several coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom
came into contact with health-care workers and members of the public.
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A police officer, left, wears protective gear as he guards a cordon at the Hong Mei House in Hong Kong on February 11.
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A worker wears a protective suit as he waits to screen people entering an office building in Beijing on February 10. China's workforce is
slowly coming back to work
after the coronavirus outbreak forced many parts of the country to extend the Lunar New Year holiday by more than a week.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has his temperature checked during an appearance in Beijing on February 10.
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Photojournalists wearing face masks take photos of a bus carrying passengers after they disembarked from the World Dream cruise ship in Hong Kong on February 9.
More than 5,300 people were quarantined on two cruise ships
off Hong Kong and Japan.
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People participating in a Lunar New Year Parade in New York City hold signs reading, `` Wuhan stay strong! '' on February 9.
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A shopper walks past empty shelves at a grocery store in Hong Kong on February 9. China's Ministry of Commerce
encouraged supermarkets and grocery stores
to resume operations as the country's voluntary or mandatory quarantines began to take an economic toll.
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A worker wearing a protective suit uses a machine to disinfect a business establishment in Shanghai, China, on February 9.
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Workers in protective gear walk near the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama on February 7.
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People in Hong Kong attend a vigil February 7 for
whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang.
Li, 34, died in Wuhan after contracting the virus while treating a patient.
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A woman grieves while paying tribute to Li at Li's hospital in Wuhan on February 7.
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The Anthem of the Seas cruise ship is seen docked at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey, on February 7. Passengers were to be screened for coronavirus as a precaution, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN.
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A light installation is displayed by striking members of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance and other activists at the Hospital Authority building in Hong Kong on February 7.
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Passengers are seen on the deck of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked at the Yokohama Port on February 7.
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Flight attendants wearing face masks make their way through Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on February 7.
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Workers check sterile medical gloves at a latex-product manufacturer in Nanjing, China, on February 6.
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A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a Beijing market on February 6.
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This aerial photo shows the Leishenshan Hospital that is being built in Wuhan to handle coronavirus patients.
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A passenger shows a note from the World Dream cruise ship docked at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong on February 5.
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A mask is seen on a statue in Beijing on February 5.
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An ambulance stops at a traffic light in front of the Grand Lisboa Hotel in Macao. The virus turned China's gambling mecca
into a ghost town.
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A dog in Beijing wears a makeshift mask constructed from a paper cup.
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Striking hospital workers in Hong Kong demand the closure of the border with mainland China on February 4.
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The Diamond Princess cruise ship sits anchored in quarantine off the port of Yokohama on February 4. It arrived a day earlier with passengers feeling ill.
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A medical worker wearing protective gear waits to take the temperature of people entering Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong on February 4.
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Medical workers in protective suits help transfer patients to a newly completed field hospital in Wuhan.
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People wearing protective overalls talk outside a Wuhan hotel housing people in isolation on February 3.
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A man stands in front of TV screens broadcasting a speech by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on February 3. Lam said the city would shut almost all border-control points to the mainland.
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A colleague sprays disinfectant on a doctor in Wuhan on February 3.
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Commuters in Tokyo walk past an electric board displaying dismal stock prices on February 3, the first business day after the Chinese New Year. Asia's markets recorded their
worst day in years
as investors finally got a chance to react to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
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Medical workers move a coronavirus patient into an isolation ward at the Second People's Hospital in Fuyang, China, on February 1.
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Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift masks while waiting to check in to a flight at the Beijing Capital Airport on January 30.
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Passengers in Hong Kong wear protective masks as they wait to board a train at Lo Wu Station, near the mainland border, on January 30.
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A volunteer wearing protective clothing disinfects a street in Qingdao, China, on January 29.
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Nanning residents line up to buy face masks from a medical appliance store on January 29.
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Lyu Jun, left, a member of a medical team leaving for Wuhan, says goodbye to a loved one in Urumqi, China, on January 28.
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A charter flight from Wuhan arrives at an airport in Anchorage, Alaska, on January 28. The US government chartered the plane to bring home US citizens and diplomats from the American consulate in Wuhan.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in wears a mask to inspect the National Medical Center in Seoul on January 28.
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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, center, attends a news conference in Hong Kong on January 28. Lam said China will stop individual travelers to Hong Kong while closing some border checkpoints and restricting flights and train services from the mainland.
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Workers at an airport in Novosibirsk, Russia, check the temperatures of passengers who arrived from Beijing on January 28.
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Alex Azar, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, speaks during a news conference about the American public-health response.
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Two residents walk in an empty park in Wuhan on January 27. The city remained on lockdown for a fourth day.
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A person wears a protective mask, goggles and coat as he stands in a nearly empty street in Beijing on January 26.
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Medical staff members bring a patient to the Wuhan Red Cross hospital on January 25.
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People wear protective masks as they walk under Lunar New Year decorations in Beijing on January 25.
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Construction workers in Wuhan begin to work on a special hospital to deal with the outbreak on January 24.
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Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, speaks to reporters on January 24 about
a patient in Chicago
who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The patient was the second in the United States to be diagnosed with the illness.
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A couple kisses goodbye as they travel for the Lunar New Year holiday in Beijing on January 24.
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Workers manufacture protective face masks at a factory in China's Hubei Province on January 23.
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Shoppers wear masks in a Wuhan market on January 23.
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Passengers are checked by a thermography device at an airport in Osaka, Japan, on January 23.
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People wear masks while shopping for vegetables in Wuhan on January 23.
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A militia member checks the body temperature of a driver in Wuhan on January 23.
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Passengers wear masks as they arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, on January 23.
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A customer holds boxes of particulate respirators at a pharmacy in Hong Kong on January 23.
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Passengers wear masks at the high-speed train station in Hong Kong on January 23.
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A woman rides an electric bicycle in Wuhan on January 22.
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People in Guangzhou, China, wear protective masks on January 22.
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People go through a checkpoint in Guangzhou on January 22.
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Medical staff of Wuhan's Union Hospital attend a gathering on January 22.
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Health officials hold a news conference in Beijing on January 22.
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Studying infection
Many countries have begun evacuating their citizens out of the worst hit areas of Hubei, while other nations, in addition to closing their borders to all visitors from China, are ordering mandatory quarantines of nationals returning home.
Major airlines -- including British Airways, American Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa -- have canceled or slashed routes to China for the foreseeable future.
Much of the concern is driven by the lack of a confirmed cure or treatment protocol for the virus, which appears to be far more contagious -- though not as deadly -- as SARS. About 10% of SARS cases resulted in death, while the toll from Wuhan coronavirus cases stands at about 2%.
On Sunday, doctors in Thailand said they had successfully treated one Wuhan coronavirus patient with a combination of antiviral drugs.
Dr. Kriangsak Atipornwanich, a doctor at Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok, said at a Ministry of Health news conference that he had treated a 71-year-old woman patient from China with a combination of drugs used in HIV and flu treatments. He said the patient had previously been treated only with anti-HIV drugs.
Officials at the news conference said the latest lab test showed there was no trace of the virus in the patient's respiratory system.
Hospitals in Beijing have previously reported using HIV drugs to treat coronavirus patients, though it is unclear if they have been successful.
With some apparent good news came another worrying development, however. Scientists in China
discovered over the weekend
that fecal samples from patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus tested positive for the pathogen.
This means it is highly possible the virus can exist in and spread through contaminated fecal matter. Previously it had been thought the virus mainly spread through droplets emitted when a person coughs or sneezes, or through other direct contact.
One of the major SARS outbreaks during the 2003 epidemic was in the Hong Kong housing estate of Amoy Gardens. There, the virus is
believed to have spread
`` via aerosolized fecal matter through the internal sewer system, '' according to a report by the US National Institute of Medicine.
CNN's David Culver, Yong Xiong, Natalie Thomas and Steven Jiang in Beijing; and Julia Hollingsworth, Laura He, Helen Regan, Nectar Gan, Pauline Lockwood, Carly Walsh, Eric Cheung, Yuli Yang, Chermaine Lee, Alexandra Lin, Isaac Yee, Angus Watson and Sophie Jeong in Hong Kong contributed reporting. | general |
Macao: Coronavirus turns China's gambling mecca into a ghost town |
There isn't a single face exposed in the cavernous Galaxy casino. Everyone is wearing a mask, including the croupiers, waitresses and security guards -- who happen to vastly outnumber the scattered customers gambling at blackjack and roulette tables.
Visitors only momentarily drop their masks at the entrances to the casino, to pose for thermal cameras on the lookout for
the deadly Wuhan coronavirus
that has killed hundreds of people in mainland China and
infected thousands more
.
The outbreak has left the free-wheeling, semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Macao shell-shocked.
Last year, the city received almost 40 million visitors. Now, streets and squares once teeming with tourists from mainland China are empty. Ambulances roam the city, operated by emergency workers dressed in hazardous materials suits.
People wearing face masks walk in front of the Grand Lisboa Hotel on January 28, 2020 in Macao.
Ghost town
Read More
According to the Macao government, January tourism figures plunged 87% compared to the previous year, even though
the busiest holiday of the year
-- Lunar New Year -- fell in that period.
Hotels that were nearly at 100% capacity during the 2019 Lunar New Year were left half empty.
The health scare has threatened the business model at the heart of Macao's economy. The unofficial gambling capital of the world depends on millions of visitors from mainland China.
But now administrators are trying to ensure that the deadly new coronavirus first discovered last December in the
Chinese city of Wuhan
does not take root in this tiny former Portuguese colony.
In January, police went from hotel to hotel, rounding up hundreds of visitors from Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. Each person was given a choice: either go home or go into quarantine for two weeks.
As of February 1, the dragnet had failed to track down more than 100 tourists from the region.
`` We are still targeting different Hubei tourists, '' Chio Song Un, Macao's police commissioner, said at a press conference on Friday.
At that briefing, 11 officials from the city government sat wearing masks, addressing a room full of journalists who had been instructed to also cover their faces.
Ao Leong Lu, Macao's secretary for social affairs and culture, urged residents to avoid gathering in large numbers. Her administration also announced schools would be closed indefinitely.
`` I never saw this in my life and I 've been here since 1981, '' Albano Martins, an economist who worked in the city's administration when it was still a Portuguese colony, told CNN.
He warned that Macao faces a major threat to its economy: `` If this effect still continue for two, three months more, we may have a two-digit contraction. ''
People wear protective facemasks visiting Largo da Companhia de Jesus with the background of Ruínas de São Paulo in Macao on January 30, 2020.
'Trust in science '
At Macao's main public hospital, hospital staff wait at the entrance dressed head-to-toe in plastic protective gear.
The coronavirus isolation ward, located on the top floor, has a ventilation system that pumps out and filters air from the patients ' rooms.
On Sunday, administrators announced the discovery of the city's eighth case of coronavirus. They say a 64-year-old woman who never traveled to Hubei province, but did reportedly purchase live poultry from a wet market in China's southern Guangdong province, was being treated for moderate symptoms the virus.
Her husband, as well as a doctor and nurse who had been in contact with her, were all in protective isolation, Vitor Moutinho, a spokesperson with Macao's Health Bureau, told CNN.
Meanwhile, the city government has also urged companies to provide housing for non-resident employees.
With a population of 600,000 -- microscopic by Chinese city standards -- Macao doesn't only rely on tourists from mainland China, with a sizeable chunk of its workforce also crossing the border every day.
People wearing face masks walk in front of the Grand Lisboa Hotel on January 28, 2020 in Macao.
City officials say a man and a woman in the neighboring Chinese city of Zhuhai have been diagnosed with coronavirus. Both worked in and around Macao's casinos.
One casino workers ' union is calling for Macao to close its casinos and hotels, echoing similar calls in nearby Hong Kong. That city has already cut border crossings by 80% and instituted new traveler checks.
Cloee Chao, president of New Macao Gaming Staff Rights, estimates the number of casino customers has plunged to less than 10% of normal activity -- meaning a full closure would not have a significantly worse effect on the economy.
`` Shutting down the casinos is the best way to protect the staff, '' she said.
Despite the concern, the government has so far drawn a line against closing Macao's glittering gambling houses.
However, asked whether this could be considered in future, Macao's Secretary for Economy and Finance told CNN he was not ruling it out.
`` We need to trust science and we need to believe in the risk management we have conducted, '' Lei Wai Nong said. `` At this point in time, the casinos in Macao are totally safe. '' | general |
Hong Kong Tightens Border as Medical Workers Call for Shutdown | HONG KONG — Hong Kong’ s government said Monday that it would close more border checkpoints, as some medical workers went on strike to demand a complete ban on entries from mainland China to limit the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’ s top official, has faced increasing calls from hospital employees, the business community and even some pro-government lawmakers to further tighten border controls with mainland China, where the virus emerged in December.
More than 2,500 medical workers in Hong Kong — mostly those considered to be nonemergency personnel — went on strike Monday morning to pressure the authorities to bar entries from mainland China. The number of strikers was expected to grow if the government did not relent.
The medical workers, who are members of a newly formed union, said they were worried that hospitals would be overwhelmed by a surge of coronavirus cases, as mainland Chinese seek to use Hong Kong’ s health care system.
The increasingly fraught debate over Hong Kong’ s border reflects its unusual status within China. Since it returned from British control 23 years ago, Hong Kong has been given a degree of autonomy, including its own border controls, a model known as “ one country, two systems. ”
[ Read: A coronavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in Japan has left travelers quarantined for two weeks. ]
But if the city does not further tighten its border, the striking medical workers argue, it risks an outbreak comparable to that in the mainland. Already, some countries have included Hong Kong with the rest of China in recently announced restrictions on arrivals, though the city has just 15 of the more than 17,000 confirmed cases nationwide.
Mrs. Lam announced some measures last week to cut arrivals from mainland China, including the closure of several border checkpoints, halting cross-border trains and cutting inbound flights. The government also said it would not allow entry by residents of Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak, or people who acknowledged that they had traveled there recently.
Arrivals by mainland residents dropped by 62 percent since those restrictions were put in place, she said, and would fall further with the newly announced closures.
But she has resisted a complete prohibition on mainland arrivals, calling such a move “ a discriminatory approach ” and not in line with recommendations from the World Health Organization.
Mrs. Lam said the closure of four more border points at midnight Monday was in response to advice from experts and not the strike.
“ If anyone thinks that extreme means could force the hand of the Hong Kong S.A.R. government and the Hospital Authority, threatening us into doing unreasonable things that would harm the public, they are wrong, ” she said.
She also criticized the striking hospital workers. “ To use extreme means in such a sensitive time would inevitably affect the rights of the patient and add immensely to the burdens of the already beleaguered Hospital Authority leaders, ” Mrs. Lam said.
Members of the newly formed Hospital Authority Employees Alliance rallied outside of public hospitals on Monday morning.
After talks with a Hospital Authority official Monday evening, the union announced it would continue its strike.
“ Our discussions have fallen apart, ” Winnie Yu, the chairwoman of the union, said as she announced the start of the strike’ s second phase. Members, including doctors and nurses who handle emergency services, have pledged not to go to work on Tuesday and to continue the strike for the rest of the week if the government does not meet their demands.
The union has about 18,000 members, including 9,000 who have signed pledges to strike. The Hospital Authority of Hong Kong has about 80,000 employees in total.
Signaling concerns among business executives, more than half of American business leaders questioned said they wanted to see the Hong Kong government shut down the border with mainland China, according to a survey of 156 executives by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
A handful of explosive devices have also been placed around the city in recent days, followed by anonymous threats online of more bombs if the mainland border was not completely sealed. On Sunday, two devices were found in a train at the border, the police said. One ignited, but no injuries were reported.
To lessen the effects of the strike, some private sector doctors have said they would volunteer to help in hospitals. And other unions, including the Hong Kong Public Nurses Association and the Hong Kong Medical and Health Care Staff General Union, condemned the strike and urged their members to stay on the job.
Updated May 20, 2020
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $ 40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $ 100,000, a Fed official said.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.
Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don’ t live in your home. Even if you just hang out in a park, rather than go for a jog or a walk, getting some fresh air, and hopefully sunshine, is a good idea.
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.
The initial cases in Hong Kong were all found in people who returned from the mainland. But the latest appeared to have been transferred between a 39-year-old man who returned from a trip to Wuhan on Jan. 23 and his 72-year-old mother.
Some in Hong Kong’ s business community have also voiced concerns that if Hong Kong does not further tighten its border, it will be lumped in with mainland China by countries barring entry.
Vietnam initially took that step on Saturday, when it included Hong Kong in a ban on most flights from China and Taiwan. But hours later it relented, limiting the restrictions to mainland China.
The Philippines, where the first coronavirus death outside China was announced on Sunday, went further, barring non-Filipino arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Mrs. Lam’ s reluctance to further clamp down on entries from the mainland is seen by her critics as a sign of her prioritizing the expectations of the central government over the Hong Kong public.
“ Carrie Lam once again seems to be adopting one country over two systems, ” said David Webb, an independent investor in Hong Kong.
Countries including the United States, Australia and Singapore have barred entry by foreigners who have recently been to mainland China. If case numbers increase in Hong Kong, the city could find itself lumped in with the restrictions on people traveling from the mainland, Mr. Webb said.
“ Residents are not allowed to go to libraries, to concerts, to amusement parks, ” he said. “ The city is on an unprecedented level of lockdown. At the same time, we’ re allowing potential cases to walk across the border into Hong Kong. That’ s inconsistent. If everybody should make every effort, then we should shut down the border except to essential traffic. ”
Alexandra Stevenson contributed reporting. | business |
Beijing Sees ‘ Major Test’ as Doors to China Close and Coronavirus Deaths Surpass SARS | China’ s Communist Party leadership called the month-old coronavirus epidemic a “ major test ” on Monday as other nations escalated efforts to isolate China, unnerving China’ s stock market, depressing global oil prices and raising new anxiety about the world’ s most populous country.
The growing global move to effectively cut off China’ s 1.4 billion people came as government officials reported the new coronavirus strain had killed more in mainland China, 425 as of Tuesday morning, than the SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003, confirming it as one of the deadliest epidemics in recent Chinese history.
Many leading infectious disease experts say the outbreak is likely to become a pandemic, defined as an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents, and that stringent anti-contagion restrictions may have come too late.
“ There’ s no sign that it’ s getting better, ” said Leo Poon, division head of the public health laboratory sciences department at the University of Hong Kong. “ We don’ t see a pattern of decline, and that’ s a problem. ”
President Xi Jinping of China called on Monday for all officials to make reducing the number of infections and deaths a top priority.
The virus has infected more than 7 million people and has been detected in nearly every country.
Mr. Xi presided over a meeting of senior Communist Party leaders at which they acknowledged shortcomings in policies on public health and emergency management, according to a report by China’ s official news agency. The leaders called the coronavirus epidemic “ a major test of China’ s system and capacity for governance. ”
Xinhua quoted Mr. Xi as saying that officials who resist orders and “ lack boldness ” could be punished — suggesting that at least some regions in China may have balked at devoting resources and personnel to stopping the contagion.
As of Monday, China had 20,438 cases, the government said on Tuesday morning, and more than 160 cases have been diagnosed in two dozen other countries, including 11 in the United States. During the SARS outbreak, China had 349 deaths and 5,327 cases, according to the World Health Organization.
Government figures show that confirmed coronavirus infections are surging by more than 2,000 daily.
Some deaths still go unreported, and many residents in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in central Hubei Province, say they believe the true number of deaths across China may be higher than the official tally, because many of the ill have been turned away by overstretched hospitals. Several residents said they had heard of people dying at home.
The commonly accepted need for isolating suspected cases collided with anger, confusion and recrimination between China and other governments.
In the United States, there were scenes of uncertainty at the few airports still permitted to receive flights from China, as the first federally required quarantine since the smallpox era a half century ago took effect.
Russia, which shares a 2,600-mile border with China, suspended all passenger-rail links. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte exhorted citizens to “ stop this xenophobia thing ” amid signs there were acts of discrimination against people of Chinese descent.
The government of Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous territory that is part of China, closed four border crossings to the Chinese mainland, leaving just three, as more than 2,400 Hong Kong medical workers went on strike to press for a total ban on mainland arrivals.
Many airlines have suspended flights to China, and governments have barred Chinese travelers or anyone who has traveled recently to China, despite the World Health Organization’ s statement that the closure of international borders was unnecessary. The United States has recommended that Americans put off travel to China.
A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, criticized the American response, adding that, “ the U.S. government has not provided any substantive help to the Chinese side yet. ”
In an online news briefing, Ms. Hua noted that the United States was “ the first to withdraw its consulate staff from Wuhan, the first to suggest the partial withdrawal of embassy staff and the first to announce a ban on entry by Chinese citizens. ”
“ What the U.S. has done could create and spread panic, ” Ms. Hua said.
But in China itself, millions of people who were working in Hubei Province have been stopped from returning to their home areas, feared as potential carriers of the disease and treated as outcasts. Even those without symptoms are being ostracized.
Last week, the American health and human services secretary, Alex Azar, said that he had offered to send a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to China to help with the coronavirus outbreak, adding that he had reiterated the offer several times.
With the C.D.C. already running through its allocations for emergency response funds, the Department of Health and Human Services informed Congress that it may transfer up to $ 136 million to help combat the spread of coronavirus, according to a person with knowledge of the notification.
Even as Chinese officials tried to reassure their own public that shortages of medical supplies were being addressed, and that food prices were stable, the spillover effects of China’ s isolation reverberated through the Chinese stock market, which had been closed since Jan. 23 for the Lunar New Year holiday. Investors confronting the prospect that the world’ s No. 2 economy could suffer severe constraints sent stock prices tumbling by 8 percent.
In a note to clients, Tai Hui, J.P. Morgan’ s chief market strategist in Asia, wrote that, “ As the number of infections is still likely to rise in the weeks ahead, we would expect the Chinese onshore equity market to come under pressure. ”
Updated June 12, 2020
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’ s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “ very rare, ” but she later walked back that statement.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’ s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “ start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, ” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “ When you haven’ t been exercising, you lose muscle mass. ” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’ t being told to stay at home, it’ s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
The anxiety also infected global energy markets, where the possibility of falling demand from a hobbled China — the world’ s biggest importer of oil — sent prices to the lowest level in more than a year. Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as Russia, agreed to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday about possible production cuts.
In Wuhan, ailing residents have been begging for beds at local hospitals. Overwhelmed doctors have run out of medical supplies. In response, the Wuhan government announced that two new hospitals were to be built within weeks. The first hospital, with 1,000 beds, opened Monday after it was built in just eight days.
It was unclear whether the daily surge in infections is at least partly a result of more test kits being delivered, making it hard to determine how fast the virus is spreading. But even as the death toll has risen, the number of people who have recovered has also climbed in recent days, suggesting that the fatality rate of the virus is relatively low.
The Chinese National Health Commission reported on Sunday that there had been 475 recoveries. In Hubei, 80 patients were pronounced recovered on Sunday, while 56 died that day. On Saturday, 49 patients were released from hospitals, and 45 died.
China has sealed off several of its cities, including Wuhan, restricted public gatherings and quarantined some communities. Many cities have been brought to a virtual standstill as residents have been told to stay at home and schools and offices remain shut.
Although many Chinese cities have extended the Lunar New Year holiday to combat the spread of the disease, public health experts say the virus is still likely to spread, given how infectious it is and the large number of travelers expected to commute for work.
The geographical extent of the disease is reminiscent of that of SARS, with cases reported in at least 25 countries, amplifying fears that the virus could spread across the world.
Reporting was contributed by Austin Ramzy, Alexandra Stevenson, Steven Lee Myers, Chris Buckley, Amy Qin, Anton Troianovski, Paul Mozur, Vivian Wang, Emily Cochrane, Tess Felder, Jason Gutierrez, Stanley Reed, Richard Pérez-Peña and Rick Gladstone. | business |
A Supply-Chain Approach to Solving the Coronavirus Challenge | Last week, we learned that Amazon’ s fourth-quarter results smashed analysts’ expectations. Revenue climbed 21% year on year, profits rebounded, Prime is paying off, and market cap surged to over $ 1 trillion. Exciting developments for those of us who predicted the success of the Amazon operating model.
More sobering, however, was the news that the World Health Organization ( WHO) had upgraded the status of the coronavirus to a global emergency, with 7,700 cases recorded worldwide, and the death toll in China rising to 170.
So what’ s the connection between those two developments? The network effect. Amazon is a network of buyers and sellers who transact orders and share information about goods. The company’ s phenomenal growth is due to its ability to rapidly leverage economic scale from the partner and customer network that it’ s built over time.
Similarly, an Amazon Web Services-based platform connects pharma and healthcare providers with capabilities for seeing across the network, tracking and tracing uniquely serialized products from supply to patient, and exchanging data between supply-chain partners.
With the network effect, the more partners that connect, the more the network grows. And the more powerful the value of the network, the greater the business value of transactions across it — that is, until the platform can no longer scale. But with the increasing sophistication of technology and digital solutions, networks are becoming capable of growing exponentially.
The coronavirus is spreading globally because of the network effect. Virus infection increases exponentially as the planet goes about its normal life, and more people come into contact with one another on a daily basis. They travel, and goods move, but so does the virus, whether we like it or not.
At the same time, however, the networked operating model of supply-chain capabilities offers a solution to the exploding coronavirus issue.
The virus moves as its own supply chain, from source to recipient ( patient), then from patient to patient under a network model. It doesn’ t recognize boundaries, and it thrives on physical connections. Therefore, to counteract the spread of the virus, we need global transparency and analysis of related events. The capability to codify symptoms, and share lessons is fundamental. By learning from confirmed infections, we can model and counteract outbreaks quickly and efficiently.
The challenge is that we need agile digital and IT capabilities that allow us to do things at scale — things we couldn’ t do in the past because of technology and complexity constraints.
In a nutshell, the solution to the coronavirus issue lies in the ability to build end-to-end supply-chain visibility, performance and risk-analysis capabilities. In addition, we need to create responsive planning and execution processes across countries and cultures.
To solve the coronavirus crisis quickly, we must pool global supply-chain thought leadership, capabilities and systems, and holistically build a platform that stretches from the evolving patient network back to the supply system. Then we must find and manufacture a vaccine, distribute product, and ensure that we locate all patients who need treatment. This end-to-end supply system must be designed around achieving the “ moment of truth ”: the point at which patients receive safe vaccinations. Delivery must be on time, in full, right the first ( and every) time, compliant, and predictable.
Unfortunately, todays healthcare system is built on the premise of pharma companies making and distributing patent-protected product at such high margin and inventory levels that it overlooks the need for deep supply-chain skills and experience. A cure for coronavirus won’ t get off the ground if this is the premise.
All this, of course, is what food and beverage, pharma and life sciences producers eat, sleep and breathe everyday. The difference is that coronavirus kills.
The above aren’ t new capabilities for end-to-end digital supply-chains and healthcare. Yet today’ s system of pharma manufacturing and supply, consisting of distributors, logistics providers and dispensers, is inefficient because:
To deal with coronavirus, we need to rapidly stand up a global digital platform that connects the coronavirus partner-solution system onto one seamless, digitally enabled network. Partners must be able to share data and insights, and collaboratively build a patient-centric vaccination and cure network for coronavirus.
We need to fix this outbreak and be prepared for the next one, whenever and wherever it occurs. It’ s been done before; I was personally involved in creation of a global visibility and analytics network ( VAN) program in Africa for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, covering malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS and family planning. So let’ s get cracking! It’ s not like we’ re implementing another enterprise resource planning ( ERP) system.
Roddy Martin is chief digital healthcare transformation officer at TraceLink.
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Roddy Martin, SCB Contributor | The key to fighting the coronavirus outbreak lies in the application of supply-chain management principles, and the creation of a global, end-to-end network for partner collaboration in the healthcare industry.
Digital network platforms and advanced analytics are making it possible for logistics providers to achieve unprecedented levels of visibility and collaboration, enabling true end-to-end supply chains.
Digital platform technology is the key to improved disaster response, and the safety of patients and consumers.
All stakeholders in market-based ecosystems stand to realize breakthrough opportunities with the adoption of digitally enabled network platforms.
Breaking down the stages of the maturity model for achieving digital transformation of the supply chain.
Emerging digital technologies and the consequent need for new capabilities are disrupting all aspects of business: people, process, and technology. Today’ s supply-chain operating models are being challenged to deliver unprecedented levels of agility and economic value.
For all stakeholders in traditional supply-chain ecosystems, and specifically in life-science supply chains, enormous digitally enabled breakthrough opportunities lie ahead.
Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.
All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp | general |
China, Desperate to Stop Coronavirus, Turns Neighbor Against Neighbor | GUANGZHOU, China — One person was turned away by hotel after hotel after he showed his ID card. Another was expelled by fearful local villagers. A third found his most sensitive personal information leaked online after registering with the authorities.
These outcasts are from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, which is at the center of a rapidly spreading viral outbreak that has killed more than 420 people in China and sent fear rippling around the world. They are pariahs in China, among the millions unable to go home and feared as potential carriers of the mysterious coronavirus.
All across the country, despite China’ s vast surveillance network with its facial recognition systems and high-end cameras that is increasingly used to track its 1.4 billion people, the government has turned to familiar authoritarian techniques — like setting up dragnets and asking neighbors to inform on one another — as it tries to contain the outbreak.
It took the authorities about five days to contact Harmo Tang, a college student studying in Wuhan, after he returned to his hometown, Linhai, in eastern Zhejiang Province. Mr. Tang said he had already been under self-imposed isolation when local officials asked for his personal information, including name, address, phone number, identity card number and the date he returned from Wuhan. Within days, the information began to spread online, along with a list of others who returned to Linhai from Wuhan.
Local officials offered no explanation but returned a few days later to fasten police tape to his door and hang a sign that warned neighbors that a Wuhan returnee lived there. The sign included an informant hotline to call if anyone saw him or his family leave the apartment. Mr. Tang said he received about four calls a day from different local government departments.
“ In reality there’ s not much empathy, ” he said. “ It’ s not a caring tone they’ re using. It’ s a warning tone. I don’ t feel very comfortable about it. ”
Of course, China has a major incentive to track down potential carriers of the disease. The coronavirus outbreak has put parts of the country under lockdown, brought the world’ s second-largest economy to a virtual standstill and erected walls between China and the rest of the world.
Still, even some government officials called for understanding as concerns about prejudice spread. Experts warned such marginalization of an already vulnerable group could prove counterproductive, further damaging public trust and sending those who should be screened and monitored deeper underground.
“ We are paying attention to this issue, ” Ma Guoqiang, the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Wuhan, said at a news conference there last Tuesday. | business |
How Will The Coronavirus Affect Supply Chain Operations Across The Globe? | Elemica is the leading Digital Supply Network for manufacturing industries. Elemica accelerates digital transformation by connecting, automating, anticipating, and then transforming inter-business supply chain processes for the products they buy, sell, move, and…
The Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on a global basis as it spreads exponentially across continental lines while causing stocks to stumble, supply chains to slow, and transportation operations to be disrupted.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 200 points last week when news that the virus had spread beyond the area where the first outbreak occurred.
Economist Eswar Prasad, former head of the International Monetary Fund’ s China unit says in the Washington Post, “ A broader spread of this disease has the potential to disrupt travel, trade and supply chains throughout Asia, with knock-on effects on the world economy, since Asia is now a key driver of global growth. ”
Predictions as to how much this can change the economy in China and other nearby countries are appearing in many news outlets, especially since Wuhan is a “ key transportation hub for goods moving from China’ s interior to the coast, ” notes The Post.
The area is also known as a key supplier of materials for electronics, pharmaceuticals, and automotive supply chains.
Across China, more and more public venues are closing temporarily in an effort to diffuse the spread of the virus.
And airports across the globe have enacted measures to test travelers coming from China for the virus.
About 13 million people live in the area around Wuhan, but sixteen other cities have now been locked down, equating to over 46 million people.
“ For global corporations, Wuhan is an important hub. Of about 2,000 cities in China with factories and other facilities in Bloomberg’ s supply chain database, the city ranks 13th, with about 500 facilities. The province of Hubei has 1,016, making it seventh of 32 such jurisdictions. U.S.-based companies have 44 facilities there, and European ones about 40, the data show. Many plants are in the auto and transportation industries, and big names include PepsiCo Inc. and Siemens AG. ”
The CDC has 110 patients, who recently traveled to China, under investigation – and five people, as of today, have been diagnosed with the virus in the US, with predictions for more to be stricken.
If the virus continues to spread, more and more supply chains will be affected as operations involving labor, supplies, production, and transport are disturbed.
Supply chain managers need to be proactive to ensure their organizations are safe from disruptions to their supply chains caused by natural disasters, diseases, weather, loss of a supplier or transport mode, and more.
Supply Chain Managers using a Digital Supply Network ( DSN) can find and deliver from different sources of supply faster by being connected to an overall network.
A DSN will better enable the enterprise to meet the demand from their customers using different suppliers and at less risk.
The network provides real-time access to demand and supply signals by leveraging alternative channels for replenishments and delivery mechanisms.
So whether it is; reacting to increases in pharmaceutical ingredients requirement outside of the normal China suppliers, electronic components for mobile phones that are growing in demand, automotive parts, or specialty, chemicals and minerals, a Digital Supply Network connected to an organization’ s suppliers and logistics service providers can act more quickly to changing needs and meet demand faster when faced with unforeseen occurrences.
The Elemica SEE | Visibility Solution Platform Unleash the power of a digital supply chain with visibility and exception management for optimizing and transforming your order-to-cash and procure-to-pay supply chain processes. Download Now!
ConverSight.ai’ s comprehensive platform empowers supply chain organizations… | general |
The Coronavirus and Travel Risk Management: This Is What You Need to Know | Updated 2.5.20
On average, over 10% of trips experience disruptions. There are many types of risk that travelers face; some are on a smaller scale and lower-impact, such as misplaced luggage, issues with traffic and public transportation and a cancelled or delayed flight. And then there are other types of traveler risk where the stakes are higher and the scale broader, such as a natural disaster, political unrest or terrorism. At my company, Ovation Travel Group, we manage travel for over 300,000 business and leisure travelers, and it is our responsibility to consider the health and safety of others as they conduct business and go on vacations. Regardless of the travel type, it's our job to have a risk management plan in place in order to mitigate risk and disruption, and help travelers experience a safe and successful trip. And right now, we are dealing with a very high profile risk scenario that's both widespread and with high stakes for those who may be affected: the coronavirus.
Ovation has been in business for over 35 years, and we 've seen a number of public health issues, including SARS, H1N1, Ebola and Zika, and we 've had plans in place to reduce disruption in such times. At travel management companies, risk management services typically include traveler tracking and pre-trip and post-trip security reporting, proactive rebooking and evacuation services, if necessary. It doesn't matter if you're the owner of a regional business with three global travelers or the CEO of a multinational corporation, a strategic and solidly founded risk management program can mean the difference between knowing where your people are and being able to quickly communicate with and assist them during a disruptive incident, versus losing track of them.
This is what we are seeing at Ovation, in terms of the current coronavirus outbreak, and what travelers need to know now:
Updates from Official Sources. First and foremost, it's important to acknowledge what may be a rumor and to get the facts from official sources. Right now, there are over 24,500 confirmed cases in over 25 countries; most of the cases, including most of the 492 deaths, are in China. There are currently 11 confirmed cases in the US. Some positive news is that, over the past 5 years and with bipartisan support, continually increasing funding is available to mitigate outbreaks such as this, including a current $ 100 million immediately available to the CDC. Further, The World Health Organization ( WHO), State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) are stating the following:
Presidential Proclamation Issued. On Friday, the US government issued a Presidential Proclamation that imposed the following entry requirements, which went into effect on February 2nd at 5:00 p.m. EST:
Airline Updates: On Friday, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines said they were cancelling all flights to China; similarly, on Tuesday, American and United cancelled flights to Hong Kong. Other airlines with suspended or reduced service to China include Air Asia, Air India, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Etihad Airlines, Lufthansa, Polish Airlines, Qantas Airlines, Qatar Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Many airlines are waiving change fees for those who want to rebook travel to China for a later day, and some are offering full refunds. The specifics for each airline can change, so if you have a question about a future flight, contact the airline and ask about your trip status, what their policy on an itinerary change is and what your options are.
Proactive Travel Precautions. At Ovation, over the last few weeks we 've had many travelers call to cancel trips to China. Related, many travelers are changing flights that had a connection either in China or one of its neighboring countries. We 've had many of our clients pull reports of travelers who have recently flown to China or are set to do so in the upcoming month. Some clients have asked their travelers to cancel trips to China altogether for the foreseeable future and others have put them on hold. For all of our 700+ clients who have scheduled trips to China throughout the coming weeks, we are tracking, reporting on and proactively reaching out to re-accommodate any traveler whose plans are affected by traveler restrictions. And these concerns are widespread. As the New York Times recently reported, `` The growing uncertainty about the safety of traveling to China is bedeviling companies large and small around the world and rippling through global supply chains. ''
Advice for travelers. At Ovation, we offer a number of communications associated with risk management for travelers, including trip alerts with up-to-date itinerary information, news alerts and `` Travelgrams '' that convey important information such as breaking travel industry news. Our most recent Travelgram was about the coronavirus, and in part, we encouraged travelers to check the CDC's website for the most updated information. While the CDC has specific instructions for people who have recently traveled to China, they also state: `` The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to [ the coronavirus ]. However, as a reminder, CDC always recommends everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses. '' Those actions include washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands; staying home when sick and covering your cough and sneezing with a tissue. Which, particularly during cold and flu season, feels like sound, practical advice. | business |
Daily briefing: How to design your own doctoral project | Hello
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Coronavirus outbreak
Coronaviruses cause respiratory infections in humans.
Credit: Dr Linda Stannard/UCT/Science Photo Library
Labs worldwide clamour for live samples
• On Thursday, the World Health Organization ( WHO)
recommended
that the interim name of the disease causing the current outbreak should be “ 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease ” ( where ‘ n’ stands for novel and ‘ CoV’ for coronavirus). It might not roll off the tongue, but there is a good reason for the choice.
Disease names that point to a landmark or region — such as ‘ Spanish flu’ — can cause harm
. “ We’ ve seen certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, create unjustified barriers to travel, commerce and trade, and trigger needless slaughtering of food animals, ” said the WHO’ s Keiji Fukuda in a 2015 statement on naming new diseases. (
Forbes | 3 min read
)
• Genome sequences of 2019-nCoV have been available since early January, but these are no substitute for live samples of the virus, which are needed to study it in depth. With samples expected to be disseminated widely within days,
meet the virologists drawing up plans
to test drugs and vaccines, develop animal models of the infection and investigate how the virus spreads. (
Nature | 4 min read
)
• Although emphasizing that the risk to most people outside China is very low,
The New York Times
offers
a quick, infographic-driven overview of what we know about 2019-nCoV compared to other diseases
: how contagious it is ( moderately), how deadly ( we don’ t know, but probably less than 3% of infections are fatal) and how long it will take to develop a vaccine ( probably a year, at least). (
The New York Times | 11 min read
)
• The United States, Australia and Singapore are among the countries that are
denying entry to foreign nationals who have travelled in China in the previous 14 days
. Several other countries have ceased flights to China or closed their borders to the country, against the advice of the WHO. “ Travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains and harming economies, '' says WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The WHO recommends screening at border crossings instead. (
BBC | 6 min read
)
Stay up to date with
the latest news on the outbreak on
Nature
. ( short reads, continuously updated)
Notable quotable
“ It is precisely developed countries like the United States with strong epidemic prevention capabilities and facilities that have taken the lead in imposing excessive restrictions contrary to WHO recommendations. ”
The US travel ban on visitors to China will “ create and spread fear ”, says Chinese foreign-ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. (
Reuters
)
Major HIV vaccine study fails
An ambitious HIV vaccine trial in South Africa has been
halted early after the treatment was deemed to have no efficacy
compared to a placebo. The study examined the ‘ prime boost’ strategy, in which participants received a pair of complementary HIV vaccines. A smaller study in Thailand a decade ago showed lacklustre results, but researchers still held out hope based on results in monkeys. “ It’ s a huge disappointment, ” says physician-scientist Glenda Gray, who headed the curtailed study. “ I was catatonic. ”
Science | 6 min read
Features & opinion
Tech tools for open and inclusive labs
Apps and software tools are helping many inclusivity-minded group leaders to
transform research from an isolated pursuit into a more open, collective exercise
. Messaging platforms to make discussions more transparent, video conferencing for offsite lab members and software to support people with learning differences can all contribute. Plus, there are lower-tech solutions, such as posting your lab’ s code of conduct on a public-facing website.
Nature | 8 min read
Design your own doctoral project
Instead of looking for PhD positions, why not design your own, suggests fisheries researcher Jesko Becker. He reveals
how he created his dream doctoral project in his perfect location
— and outlines hurdles to watch out for.
Nature | 6 min read
How to master the art of prioritization
Business researcher Carsten Lund Pedersen has come up with a simple tool to help scientists
pick, prioritize and pursue the right research project
. The project-management triangle measures three key constraints that researchers should consider: ambition, time and energy. `` We need to be making clever choices on tricky trade-offs, '' says Pederson.
Nature Index | 5 min read
Quirks of
Nature
Quote of the day
“ I think my goals for Davos have been downgraded from delivering a message of peace and nerd liberation to the world’ s powerful, or even getting a selfie with Greta, to simply taking in a week in an environment that’ s so alien to me. ”
Theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson gives us the scientist’ s-eye-view of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (
Shtetl-Optimized blog
) | science |
China Declares Urgent Need for Medical Masks | China needs medical masks to slow the spread of coronavirus.
China said it is in urgent need of medical masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to Channel News Asia. Now that the virus has claimed more than 360 victims, this crisis has surpassed even the SARS virus of the early 2000s.
`` What China urgently needs at present are medical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles, '' said Hua Chunying, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, in a press briefing.
This comes on the heels of a 57-person jump in confirmed deaths — the biggest increase in one day since the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, in 2019.
Since then, the virus has spread to 24 countries, regardless of many governments pushing never-before-seen travel bans on Chinese citizens arriving on their soil.
The World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus has become a global health emergency, with the first death outside of China confirmed this past Sunday in the Philippines.
With a major health threat loose on the world, everyone is coming together to help China pull through this latest challenge.
For more updates on the coronavirus, take a look at this article, and also be sure to look at the search for a cure to this blight.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. | tech |
Apple's push into TV is 'failing to resonate ': Analyst | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., smiles while speaking about Apple TV+ during an event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, Sept. 10, 2019. Bloomberg/David Paul Morris
Apple Inc.’ s streaming-video service has gained limited traction with consumers, and this could represent a cautious signal as the company moves away from hardware sales and toward services, according to Bernstein.
Analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated that fewer than 10 million consumers had opted for their free 12-month trial of Apple TV+, citing an analysis of the company’ s first-quarter results. This equates to 10% or fewer of eligible customers, he wrote, a take rate he called “ surprisingly low. ” Apple hasn’ t disclosed subscriber numbers for the TV+ service.
Sacconaghi speculated that Apple TV+ may be “ failing to resonate with customers, perhaps due to its limited content offerings. ” Unlike other streaming services such as Netflix Inc. or Amazon Prime, which offer reruns to well-known content, Apple only offers original shows on its service, with “ The Morning Show ” being the most high profile. Meanwhile, Walt Disney’ s Disney+ service has benefited from the company’ s pool of well-known intellectual property, like “ Star Wars ” and Marvel.
In December, an expert panel hosted by UBS said that Apple TV+ “ needs a mega-hit original series to ultimately retain subscribers, ” adding that the company “ may likely have to ultimately also acquire an asset with a big backlog of catalog content -- most of which will be very expensive at this point. ”
Bernstein suggested other reasons why Apple TV+ may not have caught on in terms of subscribers. It could be that Apple “ hasn’ t been able to effectively promote TV+, ” Sacconaghi wrote, encouraging the company “ to more directly leverage its 1.5B device installed base. ” He also reflected that the company may be conservatively estimating the take rate or “ deliberately scaling its promotions of TV+ slowly to mitigate the negative accounting impact. ”
In any case, he added, investors should “ closely monitor the adoption of TV+ going forward, ” as the take rate will “ provide some indication of potential acceptance of the service, as well as Apple’ s ability to successfully launch meaningful new revenue-generating services. ”
Bernstein has a market-perform rating and $ 300 price target on the stock. Sacconaghi wrote that he was “ torn ” about its prospects, as the valuation is “ off the charts vs. history, with increasingly high expectations. ”
Shares of Apple are up nearly 80% from a June low, although it has recently dropped on concerns over the coronavirus outbreak in China.
Apple’ s services business grew less than expected in the first-quarter results, in a performance that was seen as disappointing. While the magnitude of the miss was “ slight, ” Credit Suisse analyst Matthew Cabral wrote, the business is “ key to the [ long-term ] bull thesis and is often cited as a driver of multiple expansion. ”
The services business generated more than $ 46 billion in revenue over 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg; this represents nearly 18% of overall revenue. Despite uncertainty related to the TV+ business and the overall pace of growth at the division, analysts still see rapid growth for services revenue. Last month, Evercore ISI wrote that it was “ an underappreciated growth lever, ” and that services revenue could grow above $ 100 billion by the end of Apple’ s 2024 fiscal year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1 @ bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4 @ bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm | general |
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NGI All News Access | Coronavirus | Markets
An oversupplied global gas market has come under even more pressure in the last week as prices in Northeast Asia declined on growing uncertainty about how the coronavirus outbreak in China might impact demand there.
While just two U.S. liquefied natural gas ( LNG) cargoes have departed for China since early last year given the trade rift between the two countries, weakening sentiment there is weighing on global prices that were already trading at unprecedented lows for this time of year.
Northeast Asia is basically driving the global market as Europe is flooded with gas at a time when demand is lower on warm weather, said ClipperData’ s Kaleem Asghar, director of LNG analytics. The Japan Korea Marker, Northeast Asia’ s LNG benchmark, hit a new record low on Monday when it passed a $ 4.00/MMBtu floor and hit $ 3.512.
Fears about the absence of demand in China, the world’ s second largest LNG importer behind Japan, are “ hammering prices, ” Asghar said. And while industrial demand is seen facing the greatest threat there, it remains difficult to gauge the outbreak’ s full impact on gas consumption as Lunar New Year celebrations — typically a time of reduced usage — have been extended in some parts of the country because of the virus.
“ The coronavirus, I’ m sure, will keep a lot of people on edge, and rightly so, ” said Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Ben van Beurden last week on CNBC’ s Squawk Box Europe. “ It is a very concerning development, a lot of people will be anxious, and of course we are monitoring very closely what is happening. ”
Van Beurden, who helms the world’ s largest LNG trader, said he was “ absolutely convinced ” that concerns about the virus “ will not help sentiment ” in global energy markets.
Asghar said the coronavirus’ impact could become more evident if Chinese buyers soon try to resell their cargoes. China’ s major state-owned LNG importers are also reportedly considering force majeure declarations, which would absolve them of their obligations to take contracted deliveries.
The outbreak comes at a time when Australia, Qatar, Russia and the U.S. have been steadily producing LNG. Feed gas deliveries to U.S. export facilities hit a new record high of 9.13 Bcf/d on Jan. 28, according to Genscape Inc. Deliveries have continued to increase and were at 9.28 Bcf/d on Monday, according to NGI’ s U.S. LNG Export Tracker.
“ Recent days’ volumes have been somewhat volatile with operational upsets at Sabine, but the ramp in operations at Freeport that begin mid-month, along with a recovery in deliveries to Cameron have boosted the top-day number, ” Genscape said last week.
U.S. exports increased between Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 to 75 Bcf, as 21 vessels departed, including eight from Sabine Pass, four from Freeport, three from Corpus Christi and two each from Cove Point, Elba Island and Cameron, according to the Energy Information Administration. That compares to 15 vessels that left the prior week carrying 54 Bcf.
The global supply glut is hurting shipping too, with vessel rates falling on extended holidays in China and limited demand, according to shipbroker Fearnleys AS.
Spot rates for 174,000 cubic meter ships, or those with the capacity to transport nearly 4 Bcf that are becoming the standard LNG transport vessels worldwide, slid from $ 105,000/day in the Atlantic Basin and $ 94,000/day in the Pacific Basin on Jan. 24 to $ 80,000/day in both regions on Jan. 31, Fearnleys said.
Also in the U.S. last week, Cheniere Energy Inc. celebrated a milestone, announcing that it had produced and exported its 1,000th cargo. Cheniere was the first to export LNG from the U.S. in 2016.
Edge Gathering Virtual Pipelines 2 LLC also said last week it had been selected by a large unconventional natural gas producer in northern Pennsylvania to liquefy Marcellus Shale production from stranded wells in Tioga County.
Edge, which launched last year, said it would deploy truck delivered equipment to production sites, including two liquefaction units. The company would purchase gas from the producer to deliver via trucks to customers in the region. Edge said it also signed a supply deal with the city of Norwich, CT.
Poland’ s state-owned natural gas company, Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA ( PGNiG) said it cut Russian gas imports to 60% of its supply last year. That’ s compared to 67% in 2018. The country has moved to reduce its reliance on Russian imports and indicated last year it would eventually terminate a supply deal with Russia’ s Gazprom.
Russian imports declined as Poland took in more gas from Norway, Qatar and the United States, PGNiG said. In recent years, the company has signed a major agreement with Qatargas to increase LNG imports. PGNiG also has inked deals with Cheniere Energy Inc., Sempra Energy and Venture Global LNG to take volumes from proposed and existing export terminals along the Gulf Coast.
“ Poland has signed a number of deals to bring in more LNG from the U.S., and is continuing to build up its infrastructure, its storage and regasification capabilities, ” said Energy In Depth spokesman Dan Alfaro. “ These moves have positive implications for Ukraine as well. As Poland builds up its infrastructure, Ukraine will be able to buy more American natural gas. ”
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Mexico’ s government is doing all it can to boost the fortunes of troubled state oil and gas giant Petróleos Mexicanos ( Pemex), with the Finance Ministry again reducing the firm’ s profit-sharing duty and injecting $ 3.5 billion to reduce debt. “ Pemex is strategically important for the country, not only in its function as a provider of goods…
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India navigates a new global order | India’ s economic diplomacy must seek to strengthen a reformed and inclusive multilateralism.
This opinion piece was originally published in East Asia Forum, drawing on a longer essay in Seminar Magazine, New Delhi.
With Indian economic growth slowing, commentary is focused on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’ s 2020–21 Union Budget.
Less public attention is being paid to India’ s external challenges. The world economy matters to India today and India has itself become a global player. The rules-based multilateral economic order which supported global integration for a generation is under widespread challenge. As multilateral institutions weaken and bilateral negotiations assume centre stage, India is compelled to articulate an economic sovereignty that’ s politically grounded domestically while remaining sufficiently flexible to grasp opportunities in the years ahead.
Deep shifts in global order have been building, but a key marker is the 2008 financial crisis. Its origins in the most advanced financial markets provoked continued widespread questioning of the liberal consensus in vogue.
The crisis also triggered recognition by the advanced countries ( meeting as the Group of Seven) that emerging markets were systemically important in output, trade and finance. The Group of 20 ( G20), including India, first met at the head-of-government level in 2008 and has met at least annually since.
G20 participation has had subtle but profound implications. Two deserve attention.
As with the G7, meetings among leaders on the great issues facing the world economy has downgraded the importance of treaty-based economic institutions, notably the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.
These institutions possess the legitimacy of near-universal membership and hold formal responsibility for guiding the global economy, but ended up followers rather than shapers of cross-border policies between the world’ s economies. They are accordingly less effective in cushioning disagreements and ensuring consistency of treatment than originally intended. These developments affect India adversely.
Second, the G20 embodies a shift in global attention from national living standards ( real per capita income) to the size of the economy. The doctrine of poorer countries receiving special treatment has been replaced by expectation of burden-sharing, irrespective of the level of development. Two critical domains are in rules for trade and expected action on climate change. As the poorest ( and least urbanised) G20 member, India’ s particularly affected.
Changes in the political economy of intergovernmental relations have been accompanied by unsettling global economic changes that could be seen as a ‘ new normal’. One feature is the collapse of inflation, particularly in the advanced economies, but even flirted with by China.
This shift is reflected in astonishingly low-interest rates, whose weakness as a monetary stimulus tool has led to massive expansions in advanced countries’ central bank balance sheets — designed to stimulate spending by boosting the prices of domestic financial assets. While the recovery in growth is welcome, the associated global monetary disorder and volatile capital movements complicate economic management in emerging markets such as India.
Equally troubling are two other developments: the slowing in world trade growth since 2008 and the rise of anti-migrant sentiment in many advanced economies. Trade and immigration are beneficial for growth, productivity and real incomes. Populist politicians have been quick to blame ‘ unfair’ globalisation for stagnant wages, rising inequality and for hollowing out manufacturing sectors. The spectacular success of China as an exporter of manufactured goods has provided ammunition to these critics.
India is compelled to take a clear-eyed strategic view of the emerging international economic landscape and the implications for growth. Even if India’ s development path remains largely driven by domestic choices, shifts in the global order will affect its opportunities. Fresh thinking in its economic diplomacy is urgently required.
In addition to financial volatility mentioned earlier, there are three sources of worry: access to markets, access to technology and weakened multilateralism.
Till now India has taken comfort that WTO rules would maintain its market access in merchandise trade. Today the WTO’ s dispute settlement function is shut down by US veto; the consensus principle is regarded by advanced economies as ‘ unworkable’; special and differential treatment is being challenged; the issue of state aid for exports has become a major concern, and new issues such as digitalisation are being discussed in plurilateral groups that India has chosen to avoid. With China in mind, new disciplines are being discussed in export subsidies and state-owned enterprises. India, with its considerable state involvement, could also come afoul of these and has already been challenged on subsidies.
In technology, India — a non-signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ( NPT) — has long experience of exclusion from dual-use technology regimes. Given growing US-China rivalry, there’ s been enormous widening of technologies believed to be strategic. 5G telephony is the most egregious example. The United States and the European Union are attempting to place screening mechanisms for foreign investment where the underlying intent is judged to be non-commercial. Again, India’ s commitment to strategic autonomy may conflict with these tighter rules.
India needs to think about its interests, assets, selection of partners and domestic capacity to provide reciprocity. It’ s not in India’ s interests to be forced to choose between the United States and China. Both offer different opportunities. America has cutting edge research and technological cooperation and while China offers investment and cheap capital goods. If India believes the United States is economically misguided in focusing on bilateral trade deficits, then it shouldn’ t repeat the same fallacy in its own bilateral trade relationship with China. An obsession over the trade deficit with China is reportedly a major reason behind India’ s step back from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
India’ s economic diplomacy must seek to strengthen a reformed and inclusive multilateralism — an arena where it has considerable expertise but traditionally been shy, other than perhaps at the WTO. India has had a seat at the top table for over a decade. As its 2022 G20 presidency approaches, 75 years after its independence from Britain, it must seize the opportunity to shape the menu in cooperation with like-minded partners.
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Due to copyright agreements we ask that you kindly email request to republish opinions that have appeared in print to [ email protected ].
An exit from coal in the Asia-Pacific region is a global decarbonisation priority.
In its recovery, India will wish to consolidate market access for its export of services to rich countries and make the country’ s growing market most attractive to the latest technology.
Stakeholders from government, private sector, media and academia/institutions come together to review India-EU relations and point to a promising direction for the future.
Rather than risking its soldiers ' lives on the border, India should join 'middle power ' economic coalitions to address China's behavior.
This piece was published the day before India imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns in its response to the COVID-19 response. It remains relevant in assessing the government's actions in the ten weeks that have since passed.
Policymakers, academics and private sector actors from the EU and India come together to work on common issues and explore further areas of cooperation.
Even with the recent economic slowdown, India still boasts Asia’ s fastest growing economy in 2018. But beneath the veneer of impressive GDP expansion, uneasiness about India’ s economic model clearly tempers enthusiasm.
With the turn of the year, India has firmly entered election mode. Recent regional elections have begun to shift the political landscape, while tensions continue to simmer between the Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Finance. How the Modi government sees out this term could set important precedents for the incoming government in May 2019.
As the presidency shifts from Argentina to Japan at Buenos Aires ( and then to Saudi Arabia) it is worth asking why the G20 has endured this long and what it needs to remain relevant in a dramatically changed world. | business |
Coronavirus May Already Be Affecting Your Business | We notice you're visiting us from a region where we have a local version of Inc.com.
or remain on inc.com
You don't work in China. Your customers aren't in China. So, the Coronavirus isn't affecting your business. Or, so we 'd like to think. But, Coronavirus seems to be making everything it touches sick -- including small businesses.
As of this morning, Coronavirus has killed 362 people, including one in the Philippines, and sickened 17,000. It sounds terrifying, which it is. But, nothing in comparison to the regular flu, which killed ( according to the CDC) over 62,000 people in the 2018-2019 flu season. Coronavirus is an unknown instead of a cyclical disease, and for those it infects, it has a higher mortality rate. It's no laughing matter.
But, it's also not something that affects only Chinese people, which some places are not figuring out.
Others have reported rudeness towards Chinese looking people, which hopefully won't grow into violence. There's nothing about your race or ethnicity that makes you susceptible to the virus. What makes you susceptible is being around someone else who has had it.
The US is now preventing foreign nationals from entering the country if they 've been to China in the past 14 days, and citizens who visited Hubei province must be quarantined. Other countries are imposing their restrictions. Airlines are cutting flights. Embassies are bringing their people home.
All of these restrictions trickle down and can affect your business. Have you had employees on vacation or traveling for business? Even if they weren't headed to Hubei province, airplanes and airports are filled with people going and coming from all four quarters of the earth -- especially if you fly through a major hub.
Do use product from China? Do you manufacture a product there? Do you use remote workers there? If you look at your supply chains, you may find you have far more contact with affected areas than you thought you did. And even if you don't have contact, the global reaction, designed to contain the virus, may trickle down to your business in ways you haven't thought about.
A recent 11th circuit court ruling held that possible exposure to Ebola didn't merit protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Employment attorney Jon Hyman explains that the court found no protection for someone who was healthy and voluntarily traveled to an affected area.
Presumably, the same would apply to someone who was traveling in China. They aren't protected under ADA, but, Hyman also points out, you're ridiculous if you react that way. `` Just because this Court says that you can fire an employee in these circumstances doesn't mean that you should. ''
At the moment, it's hard to get to Wuhan, with commercial airplanes not traveling there like they used to, but if you had business reasons to go, can you force an employee to go and fire them if they refuse?
Employment Attorney Dan Schwartz looked into court cases to see what courts did in the past. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that you are required to provide a `` safe workplace. '' It doesn't matter if that's the cubicle where your employee usually sits or a site for which he travels for business.
This, of course, is based on state law and your state may vary, but it's an ethical principle. If the CDC and the US Government says you shouldn't go, you shouldn't force an employee to go. Unless your mission is to cure disease or something similar, wait until the experts have the situation under control.
You can't tell if someone has been exposed by looking at them. Skin color, language spoken, or food choice doesn't determine someone's exposure risk. Trust that people don't want to get sick, and they don't want to spread the virus either. Take precautions and wash your hands frequently, but don't make extreme decisions out of fear. | business |
SIAF Guangzhou and Asiamold 2020 postponed | The organisers of the Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou ( SIAF) and Asiamold fairs have announced that the 2020 events will be postponed until further notice, due to the Coronavirus outbreak in the region.
The fairs were originally scheduled to be held from 26–28 February 2020 in Guangzhou, China. New dates for the fairs will be announced in due course, the organizers say.
‘ The wellbeing of all our stakeholders is paramount, so following the announcement by the Guangdong government to strengthen the epidemic prevention efforts by suspending all large-scale trade and economic events, we immediately began taking steps to postpone these two fairs to a later date,’ said Hubert Duh, chairman of Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt. ‘ We are in communication with the relevant government authorities and venue owners about rescheduling the fairs later this year, but due to the evolving situation in the country, it is too early to provide any details on this.’
Exhibitors or visitors with any queries should email sps @ china.messefrankfurt.com for SIAF or asiamold @ china.messefrankfurt.com for Asiamold.
This story uses material from Asiamold, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. | business |
Michele Ferrari denies links to Jakob Fuglsang and Astana | Michele Ferrari has responded to claims in a leaked anti-doping report that he had been seen with Jakob Fuglsang and his Astana team.
The Italian doctor was banned in 2012 from working in any kind of sport but was allegedly spotted with Astana at the 2019 Vuelta a Catalunya. Further allegations link him to Jakob Fuglsang specifically, and that he has been spotted motor-pacing the Danish climber on a training ride.
`` Once again I unfortunately find myself compelled to deny the latest media hoax that concerns me, '' Ferrari wrote on his website, before following up with a series of statements that contradict what has been written by Politiken.
`` I have not had any relationship with athletes from team Astana for over 10 years. I haven't been to Monaco/Nice for at least 12 years. I have never been on a scooter/motorbike in my entire life, let alone motor-pacing a cyclist. I haven't been to the Vuelta Catalunya in 2019. I haven't physically been present at a single race since 1994, '' Ferrari writes.
> > > Coronavirus sees Chinese teams pull out of Tour de Langkawi and all riders subjected to health-screenings
The 66-year-old then accuses the sources behind Politiken's article as having `` probable interest '' in their accusations against him, before ending with: `` I have never been convicted of doping. ''
Ferrari's life-ban from sport came after he failed to contest a 2012 charge from USADA accusing him of administering and trafficking prohibited substances.
One of Ferrari's most high-profile clients was Alexandre Vinokourov, the Kazakhstani former pro who is now the general manager of Astana and who was banned for two years in 2007 for blood doping.
In a statement released a few hours ago, Astana said they do not collaborate with any “ suspicious doctor, ” including Michele Ferrari, and that riders are not allowed to consult with outside doctors about their performance.
Their statement read: `` Astana Pro team has taken note of the press article by Danish and Norwegian media relating to the existence of an alleged confidential report by CADF suspecting some riders of the team to have been in contact with banned Dr Michele Ferrari.
“ Astana Pro Team is committed to the fight against doping in sport. The team requires from all its affiliated riders that they comply all time with all obligations under anti-doping regulations, including the prohibition to be associated with banned individuals or doctors. The team does not collaborate with any suspicious doctor, such as Dr Michele Ferrari. ''
According to the report, the CADF report says Fuglsang’ s team-mate Alexey Lutsenko was present at a meeting between Fuglsang and Ferrari in Monaco. However, there is no evidence to suggest Lutsenko was working with the doctor.
Neither Fuglsang or Lutsenko raced the 2019 Volta a Catalunya.
Politiken also say 12 people confirmed to them that Fuglsang was allegedly spotted training with Ferrari, with one specific top cyclist telling them they saw Fuglsang and Ferrari together, but that this rider is refusing to come forward despite repeated attempts to get them to speak.
Danish broadcaster DR has quoted a passage from Fuglsang's book ‘ Jakob Fuglsang – The dream of the rainbow stripes and the yellow jersey’, which reads: “ I will be able to guarantee what I did. I want to be able to see myself in the mirror, and I can now. I’ ve never been baptised, and I’ m never going to get baptised. It is important for me to say that this is my attitude towards doping. ”
Jakob Fuglsang and Alexey Lutsenko have decided not to comment on the case, according to Danish media. | general |
Oil price slides again to $ 55 a barrel amid virus fears | European shares inched higher, recovering from their worst week in nearly seven months, but jitters remained over the economic fallout from a virus outbreak in China.
European shares inched higher, recovering from their worst week in nearly seven months, but jitters remained over the economic fallout from a virus outbreak in China.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index and the Ftse 100 rose slightly but the price of Brent crude slumped again -- dropping by $ 1.70 to below $ 55 a barrel.
That reflects major fears that the deadly coronavirus could yet cause significant global economic havoc.
Oil and gas stocks were among the worst performers for the day as worries over demand in China continued to erode oil prices.
“ There are signs of some success in battling the virus, as the number of recoveries increases, providing another positive narrative for markets looking to capitalise on the first decent sell-off in weeks, ” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online broker IG.
However, investors are likely to stick to cautious plays in the near-term, with the death toll for the Chinese coronavirus still rising and multiple countries setting travel bans on China.
Further souring the mood, Chinese stock markets crashed upon opening after a long holiday.
“ Markets are more or less in this wait and see mode where they await new news regarding the coronavirus, ” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist at Rabobank in Amsterdam.
| general |
FDA Approves Seqirus ' Audenz as Vaccine Against Potential Flu Pandemic | As the world prepares for a potential coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government has been busy making preparations for the possibility of a flu pandemic. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) approved Seqirus’ Audenz, a vaccine for a potential pandemic associated with the H5N1 flu virus.
Audenz is the first-ever adjuvanted, cell-based influenza vaccine designed to protect against influenza A ( H5N1) in the event of a pandemic. The novel vaccine combines Seqirus’ MF59 adjuvant and cell-based antigen manufacturing. The vaccine is designed to be rapidly deployed to help protect the U.S. population and can be stockpiled for first responders in the event of pandemic, Russel Basser, chief scientist and head of research and development at Seqirus, told BioSpace in an interview following the approval. Speaking from the company’ s North Carolina-based manufacturing facility, Basser said the approval of Audenz is a key advance for the company and the nation in preparation for an influenza pandemic.
Audenz is different from the typical flu virus available each year to protect the populace from seasonal influenza. While a typical flu season can be devastating and result in more than 10,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of hospitalization rates in the United States, a pandemic would be a catastrophe. A flu virus that becomes a pandemic would be something new that people have yet to encounter, Basser said. It would be catastrophic, potentially killing millions of people and causing untold social and economic wreckage. According to the World Health Organization Global Influence Strategy for 2019-2030, a severe flu pandemic would result in a loss of national economic productivity, as well as severe economic burdens on affected citizens and communities.
“ If there was a pandemic, it would be catastrophic, ” Basser said. He noted that the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 involved the H1N1 influenza virus and infected 500 million people around the world. The death toll from that outbreak is estimated at between 50 million and 100 million people. The H1N1 virus is different than the H5N1 virus the Audenz vaccine takes aim at. The H5N1 virus is often called “ bird flu ” due to its prevalence in avians. These types of flu viruses have been known to spread to humans, but on rare occasions. If the A ( H5N1) virus were to change and become easily transmissible from person to person while retaining its capacity to cause severe disease, the consequences for public health could be very serious, with an approximate 60% mortality rate, Seqirus said in its announcement.
Audenz was developed with the MF59 adjuvant. Which is believed to enhance an immune response from the body by inducing antibodies against virus strains that have mutated. The adjuvant reduces the amount of antigen required to produce an immune response, increasing the number of doses of the vaccine developed, so that a large number of people can be protected as quickly as possible, Basser said.
Development of Audenz was supported by a partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Working with BARDA, Basser said they will be able to stockpile doses of Audenz in case of a pandemic outbreak.
This is part of our commitment to protect the U.S. community at large from a flu pandemic. We are providing vaccines for a stockpile, ” Basser said.
BARDA Director Rick Bright said the approval of Audenz will help the country achieve the security goals set by the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza and the 2019 Executive Order to speed the availability of influenza vaccine.
Audenz isn’ t the only flu-preparation that Seqirus has been making. In December, the company released new data that shows Fluad, an adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine, was more effective than standard non-adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine in reducing the risk of flu- and pneumonia-related hospitalization in patients 65-years-of-age and older. | general |
State of the Coronavirus Outbreak: `` Almost Certainly is Going to be a Pandemic '' | The China coronavirus outbreak continues to grow. Currently the virus appears to have infected about 17,000 people in 25 countries, and leading infectious disease experts it is trending toward a global pandemic. That is to say, an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents. To date, more than 360 people have died from the virus, globally. However, some epidemiological models estimate the actual number of cases is 100,000 or more.
“ It’ s very, very transmissible, and it almost certainly is going to be a pandemic, ” Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told The New York Times. “ But will it be catastrophic? I don’ t know. ”
The coronavirus, which comes from the same family of viruses as the common cold, SARS and MERS, began in the city of Wuhan, China. It is believed to have originated in bats and made the jump to human beings, possibly at a seafood market in the city. The virus’ s genome is very similar to the SARS virus. It is an airborne virus, although it does not appear to survive long outside the body or on surfaces and remain infectious. It seems to require close contact or exposure to droplets, such as coughing or sneezing, from someone who is infected. However, there are some signs that it can be transmitted prior to symptoms occurring.
It causes flu-like symptoms that in some cases become pneumonia. Sean Beckmann, a microbiologist at Stetson University in Florida, told BioSpace, “ It’ s being associated with symptoms of bronchitis and pneumonia, particularly pneumonia, which makes it more dangerous because pneumonias tend to persist longer and have more severe symptoms associated with them. ”
The SARS outbreak ended in July 2003, and only had 8,098 confirmed cases. MERS began in 2012, but there are only 2,500 known cases. SARS killed approximately 10% of infected patients, and MERS kills about one in three. Infectious disease experts note that the 1918 “ Spanish flu ” only killed 2.5% of patients, but because of the level of medical care and because it infected so much of the world, it killed 20 to 50 million people.
At this time, the mortality rate for the Wuhan coronavirus is about 2%. The focus is on containment, although a number of organizations and companies are beginning work on vaccines. However, creating a vaccine is likely to take at least three months, but running it through even expedited clinical trials and human testing would likely take at least a year.
Nonetheless, about 12 companies have formally or informally indicated they were launching vaccine or drug initiatives. Those companies include AbbVie, Geovax, Gilead Sciences, Inovio, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax, Regeneron, Vaxart, and Vir. Some of those plans include drugs already approved for other viral infections or unapproved drugs that may be effective in treating this new virus.
Gilead Sciences, for example, issued a statement on January 31 from Merdad Parsey, the company’ s chief medical officer, saying, “ Gilead is working closely with global health authorities to respond to the novel coronavirus outbreak through the appropriate experimental use of our investigational compound remdesivir. Together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( DHHS), the China CDC and National Medical Product Administration ( NMPA), the World Health Organization ( WHO), and the U.S. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID), and along with individual researchers and clinicians, Gilead is focused on contributing our antiviral expertise and resources to help patients and communities fighting 2019-nCoV. ”
In a note to clients, Morgan Stanley analyst Matthew Harrison wrote, “ Moderna has a potential benefit over traditional vaccine makers in that once it has the sequences that code for the most immunogenic part of the virus’ surface proteins, or antigens, management can rapidly make a clinical development candidate. ”
Harrison is also bullish about Regeneron, noting that the company’ s screening technology might be used to develop therapeutic antibodies against the virus. He wrote, “ During the Ebola outbreak, Regeneron was able to move from development to validation of its therapeutic candidate in six months. ”
Health authorities in Thailand have expressed optimism about an antiviral cocktail that includes two HIV drugs and Tamiflu, which they say was effective in one seriously ill patient. | general |
Americans who stay in China should 'consider stocking up on food, ' State Dept. says |
The State Department is recommending US citizens who remain in China take precautionary measures, including `` stocking up on food, '' in the face of the
Wuhan coronavirus
outbreak that has spread worldwide.
Last week the US raised its travel advisory for China its highest level -- Level 4: Do Not Travel -- and continues to urge citizens to `` attempt to depart by commercial means. '' However, for those remaining in the country, the State Department is suggesting steps like avoiding crowds and stockpiling foods.
`` We strongly urge U.S. citizens remaining in China to stay home as much as possible and limit contact with others, including large gatherings. Consider stocking up on food and other supplies to limit movement outside the home, '' a security alert posted by US Mission China on Monday notes.
`` In the event that the situation deteriorates further, the ability of the U.S. Embassy and Consulates to provide assistance to U.S. nationals within China may be limited, '' it says.
What we know about the coronavirus cases in the US
Tens of millions of people are on lockdown in Chinese cities, including in the Hubei province, where the virus originated. The State Department ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave the provincial capital city of Wuhan. They were among the approximately 200 Americans who were transported back to the US on a chartered flight arranged by the State Department last week.
Read More
A second flight to bring US citizens back from Wuhan was delayed, a US official with knowledge of the matter told CNN. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there were plans for more repatriation flights.
`` We have a handful more flights that will be heading to China to bring Americans back home from Hubei province, '' Pompeo said at a press conference in Uzbekistan. `` The exact timing of those we're still coordinating with the Chinese government, but we anticipate that they will happen in the next handful of days and we 'll return those American citizens. ''
`` We may well end up bringing some citizens back from other countries as well. We're working through the details on that. We hope also to bring some medical supplies in the context of those aircraft traveling into the region, '' Pompeo noted. `` We're working closely and hand-in-hand with the Chinese government to try and resolve what is now this global epidemiological challenge. ''
More people have died from Wuhan coronavirus than SARS in mainland China
The Chinese government has criticized the United States ' response to the coronavirus outbreak, including the newly implemented travel restrictions. Under those restrictions, which went into effect on Sunday evening, the US will temporarily deny entry to foreign nationals who visited China in the 14 days prior to their arrival to the United States and will subject US citizens who have been to the Hubei Province to a mandatory quarantine of up to 14 days.
`` Most countries appreciate and support China's efforts to fight against the novel coronavirus, and we understand and respect them when they adopt or enhance quarantine measures at border entry. But in the meantime, some countries, the US in particular, have inappropriately overreacted, which certainly runs counter to WHO advice, '' Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday. `` The US government hasn't provided any substantial assistance to us, but it was the first to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on Chinese travelers. All it has done could only create and spread fear, which is a bad example. ''
CNN's Steven Jiang, Joshua Berlinger, Brett McKeehan, Adam Renton and Amy Woodyatt contributed to this report. | general |
Dublin Airport passenger tests negative for coronavirus | A HSE spokeswomen, while not confirming any details relating to the incident, said yesterday that they have a `` protocol in place '' to activate any plan at ports of entry into Ireland.
Update 11.13: A Dublin Airport passenger, who was suspected of having the coronavirus, has tested negative.
The passenger arrived into Ireland on Saturday on a flight from Moscow and was escorted off the plane by medical staff in hazmat suits.
It is believed he had originally flown from China.
The Department of Health said today that it does not comment on individual cases but in a statement issued on Sunday, it said: `` To date, there are no confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Ireland. ''
Earlier: Man under observation for suspected coronavirus in Dublin
A man is under observation for coronavirus after arriving into Dublin Airport on Saturday on a flight from Moscow.
It is understood he travelled there from China.
The man was
A HSE spokeswomen, while not confirming any details relating to the incident, said yesterday that they have a `` protocol in place '' to activate any plan at ports of entry into Ireland.
Leaflets from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre ( HSPC) were given to passengers on the flight which landed just after 9pm on Saturday.
The Department of Health said today that it does not comment on individual cases.
In a statement issued on Sunday, it said: `` To date, there are no confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Ireland. ''
It added: `` Ireland has advanced plans in place as part of its comprehensive preparedness to deal with public health emergencies such as novel Coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV).
`` These plans have helped us to respond to previous incidents such as pandemic influenza, SARS and MERS. ''
The National Public Health Emergency Team is due to meet on Tuesday `` to continue its review of Ireland’ s ongoing preparedness in line with the advice from the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ( ECDC). ''
An Irish teacher based in Wuhan has been evacuated to a facility in Liverpool.
Ben Kavanagh says he and 93 others are staying in isolation in student accommodation.
`` I travelled on a plane with about 200 [ people ] and maybe 100 or so of them continued onto Spain.
`` Here in the Wirral there were 83 and then last night 11 more came from Wuhan who couldn't make it on the first flight. ''
Mr Kavanagh said the area he is staying in is `` grand. '' | general |
Fake Coronavirus Posts Show How Big Tech Fails at Containing Harmful Information | Here's a question: In a society built on certain freedoms, like freedom of expression, what do you do with information that is not only demonstrably false but also potentially harmful? It's not a rhetorical question. It's the very real challenge facing tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. That's because the platforms built by those companies are where the vast majority of us go to get our information.
When that information is bad or unreliable, millions of people are at risk of making bad decisions based on false reports. Take the current coronavirus outbreak that the World Health Organization has labeled a global health emergency. There is no shortage of fake information being shared on social media. In fact, on Facebook, there are posts that encourage people to drink bleach to cure the virus. ( Don't do it -- it won't and will be very, very bad for you.)
When free expression collides with harmful content, it presents a very real, and very difficult, challenge for these companies. And it leads us to another question: Do companies have a responsibility to take action to prevent the spread of bad or false information? That's a tricky question, since any action to limit bad information is still a limit on free expression. Still, the right to free speech isn't absolute.
The most popular example of the limit of free speech comes from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the case Schenck v. United States, in which he said, `` The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. '' The key here is that false speech intended to incite panic is certainly not protected. The same is true for fraud.
Which certainly seems like a valid reason to limit the spread of bad or false information about a potential global pandemic. The problem is that in a case like coronavirus, it's virtually impossible for a tech company like Facebook or Google to screen every source of information and determine whether it's true.
That's why Google has taken action to highlight reliable and verified information when users search for details about the outbreak. While there still may be plenty of misinformation in search results, the idea is that the best information is highlighted in a prominent way. Twitter has taken a similar approach in promoting information from the Centers for Disease Control when you search for the virus.
Facebook, on the other hand, has announced it will remove posts that are considered false or harmful. The company points to its policy of limiting content that can cause real-world harm as a reason for limiting misleading information in this case.
The problem is, while I 'm all for minimizing the amount of harmful information, who decides what's accurate? Facebook says it uses a `` global network of fact-checkers, '' and will manually limit the appearance of information its team determines is false. In addition, it says it is removing information that has been flagged as false by outside health organizations.
But do we really want tech companies as arbiters of the truth? And, if so, which version of the truth?
While preventing people from thinking that drinking bleach is a cure for anything is a valid reason for stopping fake news, the company isn't exactly consistent in its application of a standard meant to protect people from real-world harm. Facebook already says it won't limit political ads, even when they are known to be demonstrably false.
All of this shows that big tech companies haven't come close to figuring out the best way to handle this. Both approaches have problems. In the case of Google and Twitter, fake information is still available, though the hope it that its impact is limited by the presence of verified search results.
In Facebook's case, it's certainly reasonable to think removing fake information is the right course of action. Except, every time you take action to limit people's ability to share information, it's a step closer to a slippery slope toward censorship. That's especially true when you intervene in some cases and not others.
As technology changes the way we communicate and get news, and as platforms like Facebook and Google become the primary sources of information for many of us, they can help find new ways to limit the spread of dangerous diseases. If only we can figure out how to keep misinformation from becoming its own viral outbreak. | business |
Coronavirus: No Effect on Luxury Sector Forecasts | With many luxury stocks trading close to record high multiples, we don’ t see many compelling investment opportunities in the sector.
We believe the short-term impact of the coronavirus epidemic in China could have more severe implications for the luxury sector compared with SARS in 2002-04, given the much higher share of Chinese luxury buying compared with 17 years ago. We believe the share of Chinese luxury purchases increased from just over 2% global share at the time of the SARS epidemic to 35% currently. Further, while mainland China accounts for 11% of luxury purchases and Hong Kong for a low single digit, the bulk of Chinese luxury purchases are made abroad and can be hit by travel restrictions. Online channels ( such as YNAP, part of Richemont, 4-star-rated Farfetch and the brands ' own online channels) could be short-term beneficiaries as buyers refrain from travel and visiting department stores.
However, since epidemics tend to be short-term, we don’ t see the epidemic having long-term negative implications on the sector’ s earnings power. Should fears over the virus subside consumption and travel, put on hold, could quickly return to the market. Hence, we don’ t expect to adjust our fair value estimates for luxury coverage downward. In mainland China, store rental agreements have a higher share of variable costs, compared with the global average, according to LVMH, which should protect profitability during the epidemic. We believe Chinese luxury consumption could grow at 5% -7% over the decade, boosted by higher-wage employment.
That said, with many luxury stocks trading close to record high multiples, we don’ t see many compelling investment opportunities in the sector. We still see value in Richemont ( wide moat, 4-star rating, revenue exposure to Chinese consumers 40%), Swatch ( narrow moat, 4-star rating, sales in greater China of 36%), Dufry ( narrow moat, 4-star rating, exposure to Chinese consumers around 6% and 13% of revenue in Asia, Middle East and Australia), Hugo Boss ( narrow moat, 4-star rating, 15% of sales in Asia) and Pandora ( no moat, 4-star rating, 9% revenues from China).
Jelena Sokolova does not own shares in any of the securities mentioned above. Find out about Morningstar’ s editorial policies. | business |
From globalization to deglobalization: Zooming into trade | This article shows some evidence of the decrease in merchandise, capital and, to a lesser extent people to people flows.
After decades of increasing globalization both in trade, capital flows but even people to people movements, it seems the trend has turned towards deglobalization. This article shows some evidence of the decrease in merchandise, capital and, to a lesser extent people to people flows. In addition, zooming into trade, the article offers an account of the importance of the strategic competition between the US and China to foster the deglobalization trend further. This is true for trade but even beyond in the tech and finance space. Finally, the demise of the WTO could be one of the most relevant turning points towards deglobalization, especially as far as trade is concerned. This should bring downward pressure to growth globally.
After the current global semiconductor shortage, business leaders and policymakers must think now about how to minimise the effects of future exogenous shocks on production networks and the global economy.
In-depth analysis prepared for the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade ( INTA).
The world awaits China's concrete plan on carbon reduction, but the country is following its own pace.
China's dual circulation strategy should not be dismissed as a buzzword: its implementation will entail major consequences.
Bruegel Annual Meetings, Day 3 - We are delighted to welcome Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People to talk about Europe's trade strategy.
Bruegel Annual Meetings, Day 2 - the World Trade Organisation has been going through trying times, a phenomenon amplified by the pandemic. Why are we headed towards a new global trade regime? And what lies ahead for the WTO?
Expect Beijing to soon start lobbying against the proposal.
COVID-19 has reinforced traditional vaccine production patterns, but the global vaccine trade has changed considerably. | business |
Megatrends: Key Forces Forging Our Future | By: Rebecca Christie and Guntram B. Wolff Date: February 3, 2020 Topic: European Macroeconomics & Governance
The global economy in the 21st century requires European leadership. Two decades of monetary union have underpinned a period of intense technological and societal change. To build on its achievements and lay the groundwork for future prosperity, Europe must step into a new leadership role that will allow it to shape global forces alongside peers in North America and Asia. Doing this effectively will require understanding and adapting to the fundamental forces at work.
Bruegel scholars have identified a series of overarching challenges that will touch every element of the European project along with economies and societies of Europe. The long-lasting effects of these ‘ megatrends’ must be considered comprehensively. It’ s time for new ideas that offer strategic solutions, to ensure that our societies continue to thrive.
Bruegel Annual Meetings, Day 2- In this session we would like to discuss monetary and macroeconomic policies after Covid-19.
This paper explores the potential effects ( and side effects) of negative rates in theory and examines the evidence to determine what these effects have been in practice in the euro area.
This event, jointly organised with ISPI, as the National Coordinator and Chair of the T20 Italy, is part of the T20 Spring Roundtables and it will focus on strategies for a swift and sustainable economic recovery for Europe.
COVID-19 has complicated inflation measurement. Policymakers need to take this into account and should look at alternative measures of inflation to understand what is actually happening in the economy.
Interest rates have been on a long-term decline, associated with declining productivity growth. To tackle this, the priorities are to reduce market concentration and, in Europe, change the financing model.
“ We are not going to lead our society to a low-carbon economy by continuing to finance the status quo. “ | business |
“ Never such an urgent task ”: See Wuhan coronavirus hospital go up in 10 days | A second makeshift hospital, similar in size and speed of construction, was 75% complete yesterday and is expected to open this Thursday, 6 February.As the epicentre of the outbreak, Wuhan has struggled to cope with the exploding number of cases, which went from a confirmed 495 on 23 January to 4,109 on 1 February, state news agency Xinhua reports.
A total of 1,400 medical staff from China’ s armed forces have been drafted in to treat patients from today at the first hospital, called Huoshenshan, Chinese for “ Fire God Mountain ”.Fifty-seven people died from the novel form of pneumonia yesterday in China, all but one of them in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital.
Coronavirus has now surpassed the 2003 Sars outbreak in deadliness, with 362 fatalities recorded as of today by Johns Hopkins University, and 17,485 confirmed cases, almost all in China. This morning China’ s foreign ministry asked the world for medical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles, since China’ s factories can produce only around 20 million masks a day. To mobilise so quickly on the two Wuhan hospitals, authorities replicated one built in Beijing for the Sars epidemic.
They spent just five hours on the design plan and had a draft within 24 hours, according to Xinhua. Three companies were ordered to build Huoshenshan Hospital. Thousands of workers operated more than 800 units of machinery, and worked in shifts around the clock. “ For a project of this scale, it usually takes at least two years, ” Fang Xiang, a project manager for one of the companies, told Xinhua. “ It takes at least a month to construct a temporary building, not to mention a new hospital for infectious diseases. ” Another construction employee told the news agency it was a challenge to provide adequate food and shelter on site for all the workers. “ I have never participated in such an urgent task, and I have never seen so many companies involved in a single project, ” said Shen Kai, another employee.Top image: Wuhan’ s Huoshenshan Hospital being built in 10 days ( Still from broadcaster CGTN’ s time-lapse video) | tech |
Passenger tested for coronavirus at Dublin Airport tests negative for disease | The passenger was in isolation since landing on Saturday evening.
A passenger who was tested for coronavirus after landing in Dublin Airport on a flight from Moscow has tested negative.
The passenger was in isolation since landing on Saturday evening.
They were tested at the National Virus Reference Laboratory ( NVRL) in UCD and have tested negative for the disease.
Medics in hazmat suits boarded the Aeroflot plane after it landed in Dublin late on Saturday night and removed the passenger in question.
Other passengers were issued leaflets to tell them they had been `` on a flight with a possible case of novel coronavirus '' and were advised to `` avoid contact with other people as much as possible ''.
They were due to be contacted by a public health doctor on Sunday.
They were also advised to stay at home or in their hotel room if they became ill and to phone a doctor or 999, mentioning that they had been on the flight.
The Department of Health and the HSE declined to provide any information about the incident and the department said that as part of the response to the virus, it will not be providing information about the activation of protocols “ other than confirmed cases ”.
It is understood that medics also boarded a flight which landed in Dublin on Monday after concerns about a passenger displaying flu-like symptoms emerged. | general |
Stocks surge for the second day in a row — here's what to watch now | Stocks soared for the second straight day Tuesday despite the growing coronavirus outbreak.
Three experts say investors should be watching this now.
Jeff Mills, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust, says the chances for volatility are high.
`` I do see complacency in the market. I think you can point to a number of different data points, whether it's flows into SPY or the QQQs in the 95th percentile, whether you're looking at the options market, the put call ratio is still very very low. AAI came out with the survey yesterday, the lowest percentage allocated to cash in nearly two years, so I would not be surprised to see additional volatility here. So I wouldn't necessarily be chasing this higher and buying with both hands but what I would say is the market is not as stretched as it was, say, in the beginning of 2018. ''
Libby Cantrill, head of public policy at PIMCO, says Monday's Iowa debacle did little to clear the political fog.
`` We 've been talking with our clients about Iowa and New Hampshire, that even though they capture the imagination, from a delegates perspective they really don't matter. Now they came at it from a momentum and fundraising perspective, but what really does matter for the current investors and markets perspective will be March 3. March 3 almost 40% of the delegates will be decided. And we should either have a very good idea of who the nominee is or who the front-runners are. And if we don't, then we would say the chances of a brokered convention actually increase, and not many people are talking about a brokered convention. ''
Chetan Ahya, chief economist at Morgan Stanley, says the global economy should continue to expand once the coronavirus outbreak stabilizes.
`` We just got the global PMIs data yesterday. And that was very strong. We had a one-point-plus jump in the global headline PMI, and we had 1.9 percentage point jump in the new orders index, which is a sub-index which is more forward looking. So we had pretty good data in terms of what's going on in the global economy before we got this virus... You probably get the resumption of recovery as soon as the situation is controlled. ''
Disclaimer | business |
'How is this going to work? ' Airport officials scramble to meet the demands of new coronavirus travel rules |
As the worldwide death toll from
Wuhan coronavirus
approaches 500 people, airport and local officials in the United States are on the front lines in trying to stop the virus's spread.
The problem: Some say they 've barely received any guidance or logistical help in implementing new travel and quarantine rules
ordered by the federal government
.
`` Everyone has been trying to nail down clarifications on the travel ban, '' an official at a major West Coast airport told CNN.
`` There were questions along the line like 'How is this going to work? What are going to be the procedures? ' and 'What are the details on a quarantine? ' ''
The new federal rules, which went into effect Sunday, include:
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-- Temporarily banning any foreign national who has visited China in the past 14 days from entering the US
-- Forcing US citizens who have recently traveled to Hubei province -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- to be quarantined for up to 14 days after their return to the US
-- Requiring US citizens returning from other parts of mainland China to undergo health screenings at selected ports of entry. These Americans could also undergo up to 14 days of self-monitored quarantine.
A government official on the East Coast told CNN after the Trump administration's coronavirus travel restrictions came down, local and state officials were left scrambling to figure out how and where to quarantine people who were asymptomatic, but may have been exposed to the virus.
The official said that planes were arriving `` within hours '' with no federal protocols in place, other than that people with symptoms would be treated locally by state and local health agencies, while quarantine locations were still to be determined.
`` The federal government basically said, we're going to bring these planes in, and when they land, you guys figure it out, '' the government official said.
This doctor was one of the first to warn about the virus. But police silenced him. Now he has coronavirus
Planes carrying US citizens who have recently been in China must land at one of 11 designated airports: John F. Kennedy in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Honolulu, Dallas, Detroit, Newark and Washington's Dulles.
The West Coast official's airport is one of the 11 airports designated for coronavirus screenings and possible quarantine.
But the official worried the airport was not prepared for large numbers of potentially sick people. Previous training scenarios typically involved preparations for just a small number of sick people, the source said.
`` We have identified a couple of spaces in the airport facility that we can block off and contain people, '' the official said.
While airports scramble, the global death toll soars.
At least 490 people have died from Wuhan coronavirus, mostly in China. The country has more than 23,000 confirmed cases of the virus, which was a mystery illness just two months ago.
In the US, at least
11 people have been diagnosed
with Wuhan coronavirus. Two of them contracted the virus from their spouses, who had recently traveled to the Wuhan area.
Officials in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday announced another case of the virus, the fifth in the country.
WHO director warns against travel restrictions
The World Health Organization ( WHO) has declared the outbreak
a public health emergency of international concern
.
But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said travel bans might do more harm than good.
This is where coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide
`` We reiterate our call to all countries not to impose restrictions that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. Such restrictions can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit. '' Ghebreyesus said in a Tuesday briefing to the UN's executive board in Geneva.
`` Where such measures have been implemented, we urge that they are short in duration, proportionate to the public health risks, and are reconsidered regularly as the situation evolves. ''
At
the world's busiest airport
, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, no passengers have shown symptoms of coronavirus or have needed to be quarantined, spokeswoman Alnissa Ruiz-Craig said.
Newark Liberty International Airport also hasn't quarantined anyone over concerns about coronavirus, the New Jersey Department of Health said. Neither has Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, spokesman Perry Cooper said.
Where 195 Americans
are
quarantined
In Southern California, 195 Americans
who took an evacuation flight out of Wuhan last Wednesday are quarantined
at March Air Reserve Base.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered
a federal 14-day quarantine for those evacuees
-- the first such order in more than 50 years.
2 more flights with Americans fleeing coronavirus will leave Wuhan soon
Evacuee Jarred Evans said the group is in good spirits.
`` Everyone is doing pretty fine, '' Evans told CNN Monday. `` People understand that the quarantine is necessary. ''
But by Tuesday, a quarantined child at the base had developed a fever and was headed to Riverside University Health System Medical Center for testing, Riverside County said in a statement.
The child was among the Americans who evacuated from Wuhan last week.
California is expecting
two more flights from Wuhan carrying hundreds of American evacuees
.
Both flights are expected to depart Tuesday. The new evacuees will head to two California military bases: Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, and Travis Air Force Base between San Francisco and Sacramento.
'We never like a rushed job '
In other parts of the country, officials are scrambling to accommodate the new travel and quarantine rules.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city is adding health screenings and mobilizing first responders. But `` there's a need for clear operational guidance, '' and federal authorities `` need all to get on the same page. ''
`` Local law enforcement, local support should not be on the front lines without a clear federal mandate on these nuanced questions that come from the mandate to quarantine people who are coming from the particular province, '' Lightfoot said.
`` And also, for people who are supposed to self-quarantine, what does that mean? ''
The Diamond Princess cruise ship with over 3,000 people sits anchored in quarantine.
Hawaii is still looking for places to house quarantined people, if necessary. But Lt. Gov. Josh Green said military bases would like be the preferred choice.
`` We will be prepared. We are spending 24/7 on this to make sure that whatever steps necessary be taken to keep our people safe, '' Green told
CNN affiliate KITV
.
`` But we never like a rushed job, and that's kind of what the federal government did to us. ''
Canadian citizen turned away at the US border
The new travel ban involving those recently in China doesn't just apply at airports.
A man gets blocked at the Canadian-US border amid coronavirus concerns
A Canadian citizen trying to enter the US was turned back at the northern border
, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said Monday.
`` We're just beginning, today, to see results of implementation, '' Cuccinelli said.
As for travel by water, the Coast Guard held a ship offshore in Washington state's Puget Sound until it passed a 14-day waiting period and no passenger showed symptoms.
The federal government isn't just trying to seal US borders from incoming coronavirus cases. It's also urging Americans to not go to China.
The State Department
issued a level 4 travel advisory warning
residents not to travel to China. It said
most commercial air carriers have already reduced or suspended flights
to and from the country.
Trapped in an apartment thousands of miles away
San Diego resident Kenneth Burnett's wife, Yanjun Wei, 3-year-old son Rowan, and 1-year-old daughter Mia have been trapped in Wuhan, China, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Burnett was supposed to join his family to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the metropolis was shut down.
Medical workers move patients to the newly-completed Huoshenshan temporary field hospital in Wuhan.
Wei told her husband she and their children have been holed up in a high-rise apartment.
`` It's terrifying, '' Burnett said. `` It is very dramatic to shut down ( an area) of 50 million people. You think to yourself, if that can happen what else can happen? ''
Burnett and Wei had been trying to get in contact with the State Department and the US Embassy in China for help. Now, Burnett said his wife and children are tentatively booked on
the next evacuation flight out
.
`` We think my wife and kids will get seats, '' he said, `` but they basically they won't guarantee anything. ''
CNN's Laura Ly, Dave Alsup, Nada Bashir, Lucy Kafanov, Stella Chan, Chuck Johnston, Mirna Alsharif and Geneva Sands contributed to this report. | general |
Basic Fun CEO: Toymaker has cushion against coronavirus supply disruptions | Fear of impending China tariffs may have actually given some toymakers a cushion against the early impacts from the recent coronavirus outbreak.
Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun, which makes K'nex and Lincoln Logs, said his company as well as others in the toy industry brought extra product to the U.S. at the end of 2019 in order to get `` under the wire '' of future tariffs that were expected to be imposed by President Donald Trump.
`` We're heavy on inventory right now, which is great, '' he said during CNBC's `` Squawk on the Street. '' `` If there's a delay of two, four, six weeks in getting the flow going again, we should be able to cover that. The real challenge is if this starts to creep into April, May and June. Then it's going to really be a disruption. ''
Chinese factories typically close during the Lunar New Year and were not expected to be up and running until this week or next, Foreman noted.
About 90% of Basic Fun's production is in China, but none of the factories are in or near Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic. Still, Foreman said workers at the company's factories live throughout China, so many need to travel from central and northern China to the southern provinces where the factories are located.
`` Right now what we're doing, the biggest thing I 'm doing everyday, is trying to chase down these things, trying to get masks, '' he said holding up a mask. `` We're searching all over to get masks to send over to China because the people can't return to work and really can't even leave their homes without the masks. ''
Foreman said his company has been exporting masks made in the U.S. to China. | business |
Coronavirus: At least one person turned away at US border as travel restrictions implemented |
A Canadian citizen was turned away at the northern border as a part of President Donald Trump's temporary
ban on people who have visited China
before their arrival in the United States, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said Monday.
In the wake of Trump's proclamation, the US has started denying entry to foreign nationals who visited China in the 14 days prior to their arrival to the US. It's not clear whether anyone else has been turned back as part of the restrictions that began at 5 p.m. ET Sunday.
`` We're just beginning, today, to see results of implementation, '' said Cuccinelli, who serves on the President's
coronavirus task force
.
Airlines are responsible for stopping passengers who will be denied entry into the US before they get on planes, and DHS worked with the airlines throughout the weekend and collected feedback to make it `` more operationally feasible for them, '' Cuccinelli said. `` We recognize these are burdens on the airlines, as they are on other people as well. But we want to make it work as effectively as we can. ''
US travel restrictions go into effect to combat coronavirus spread
The President, Cuccinelli said, based his decision on task force advice to implement certain measures to restrict travel of non-Americans who are most likely to have come in contact with coronavirus.
Read More
`` The President made very clear his top priority is the safety of the American people, but that doesn't mean a complete shutdown, '' he said.
As a practical matter, planes in the air at 5 p.m. ET were treated under pre-5 p.m. ET rules, Cuccinelli said, adding that they `` didn't want to be rerouting planes '' and they `` wanted that all to work smoothly and above all safely without breaking the system. ''
Two key determinations
US citizens and others who are allowed to travel to the US from China are being funneled to 11 airports where US authorities will conduct extra screening and transfer people for quarantine if needed.
All flights from China will go to those airports, and passengers who have been to China in the past 14 days and weren't already traveling to one of those airports will be required to rebook their flights.
The `` vast majority '' of flights coming from China already arrive at those airports, Cuccinelli said.
'No reason for Americans to panic ': White House seeks to calm fears over coronavirus
DHS has the statutory authority to limit the locations where all flights entering the US from abroad may land. And the Transportation Security Administration, under DHS, has required air carriers to enforce the President's proclamation that limits who is allowed to board commercial flights headed for the US.
When passengers arrive at the 11 airports, Customs and Border Protection officers make two key determinations: whether a traveler is admissible to the US and if someone needs extra screening or quarantine.
If Customs and Border Protection determines extra screening is needed, travelers are sent for a secondary screening. By the end of the week, Cuccinelli said, he expects medical professionals at the airport secondary screening to be entirely staffed from DHS contracts. Coast Guard personnel are also doing the work at some airports.
Cuccinelli said the `` very small number of people who have either traveled to Hubei province or show symptoms '' will go to a third screening. At that point, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would get involved to connect people with local authorities and possible quarantine.
`` These are going to be extremely small numbers, '' he said. `` We're just seeing fewer and fewer travelers from Hubei. ''
At sea, the Coast Guard is responsible for enforcing the travel restrictions, and it held a ship offshore in Puget Sound until passengers had exceeded the 14-day requirement and did not show symptoms. | general |
Royal Caribbean cancels eight China cruises on coronavirus fears | Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has canceled eight cruises out of China through March 4 in response to the coronavirus outbreak in the world's second-largest economy, the company said on Tuesday.
The company said it expects the cancellations and some modifications to its itineraries to reduce earnings by 25 cents per share.
Royal Caribbean also said it would deny boarding to people who had visited mainland China or Hong Kong over the past 15 days. It will also screen Chinese and Hong Kong passport holders and people showing flu-like symptoms.
The company had earlier this month canceled three trips scheduled for February, after consultation with health authorities over the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 400 people and infected thousands in China.
The Miami, Florida-based company forecasts 2020 adjusted profit to be between $ 10.40 and $ 10.70 per share, excluding any potential impact from the coronavirus outbreak, largely above Wall Street expectations of $ 10.47, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. ( Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) | business |
Coronavirus: en Chine, les nouvelles technologies pour lutter contre la maladie | De notre correspondant à Pékin,
La Chine du coronavirus n’ est pas celle du SRAS en 2003: l’ ensemble des nouvelles technologies développées par la deuxième économie du monde sont aujourd’ hui au service de la lutte contre l’ épidémie. Dans la province du Jiangxi, une communauté de quartier mesure la température des résidents au moyen de drones. Les habitants se mettent à la fenêtre. Et comme dans les aéroports, la machine mesure leur chaleur corporelle via une caméra thermique.
Les robots sont également au travail. Un fabricant a mis à disposition d’ un hôpital de Wuhan des serveurs androïdes pour livrer les repas aux malades, rapportent les médias d’ État. À Hong Kong, des bracelets électroniques associés à un téléphone portable vont être distribués aux personnes suspectées d’ avoir été contaminées. « L’ objectif de ce bracelet est de s’ assurer que les personnes en quarantaine ne sortent pas de chez elles, a expliqué Victor Lam, chef du bureau de la communication de la région administrative spéciale. Si jamais le bracelet est abîmé, un signal sera envoyé à la police pour vérifications. »
Le gouvernement de # HongKong 🇭🇰utilise des bracelets électroniques pour suivre les personnes placées en quarantaine à domicile dans le but de contenir le # coronavirus V @ business pic.twitter.com/n7p1rN1p0C
Surveiller et courir après les personnes qui n’ obéissent pas aux consignes: des drones un rien orwelliens poursuivent ceux qui ont oublié de mettre un masque en rappelant les consignes de prévention.
Walking around without a protective face mask? Well, you can't avoid these sharp-tongued drones! Many village and cities in China are using drones equipped with speakers to patrol during the # coronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/ILbLmlkL9R
D’ autres diffusent du désinfectant ou dispersent les rassemblements. Des technologies qui laissent certains songeurs face à l’ ampleur de l’ épidémie. Pourquoi, dans ce cas, ne pas prendre la température à toute la Chine à partir de thermo satellite? L’ attention et l’ espoir des réseaux sociaux étant d’ abord concentrés sur des technologies plus rudimentaires.
When China built an entire hospital in 10 days to help # coronavirus patients, the footage of the construction went viral.Now cement trucks are China's new celebrities pic.twitter.com/lnKGWzpjbb | general |
Two more flights carrying Americans fleeing coronavirus leave Wuhan, China |
Two flights evacuating US citizens from the epicenter of the
coronavirus outbreak in China
have departed for the United States, officials from the State Department said.
The travelers were screened for symptoms at the
Wuhan
airport and will be subject to `` Centers for Disease Control ( CDC) screening, health observation, and monitoring requirements '' when they get to the United States on Wednesday, the State Department said in a statement.
These are the second and third such flights from Wuhan that were arranged by the US government in roughly the past week. The State Department said the three flights had more than 500 passengers.
The latest flights are expected to head to two California military bases:
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
in San Diego, and
Travis Air Force Base
between San Francisco and Sacramento, a US official with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
A spokeswoman for Travis Air Force Base said one of the flights is headed there but didn't have any details on what time it would arrive.
Read More
The flights come about a week after the first US government-arranged flight left Wuhan. That first chartered plane, carrying nearly 200 US citizens -- including diplomats and their families -- arrived January 29 at March Air Reserve Base in Southern California.
US airport official asks 'how is this going to work? ' as confusion crops up over coronavirus travel restrictions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a
federal 14-day quarantine for those evacuees
-- the first such order in more than 50 years.
The flights seem to end a few days of uncertainty for the Americans who 'd been seeking a way out of Wuhan. A US-arranged flight initially was to depart on Monday, but
was delayed
, a US official with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
The Chinese government on Monday declined to comment about the delay. But it came as Beijing
criticized the United States ' response
to the coronavirus outbreak, including temporarily denying foreign nationals entry to the US if they had been in China in the previous 14 days.
More than 24,000
cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide
, including 11 in the United States. At least 490 people have died from the virus.
Even more flights from Wuhan for US citizens could be scheduled. The State Department
tweeted
it `` may be staging flights '' on Thursday and interested citizens should contact it by email.
# China
: The Dept of State may be staging evacuation flights for US citizens on reimbursable basis leaving
# Wuhan
Tianhe Airport on 2/6. Interested US citizens with valid passports contact CoronaVirusEmergencyUSC @ State.gov. Read this notice before emailing:
https: //t.co/ivX6xjgLf0
pic.twitter.com/bXn2y0FMtx
— Travel - State Dept ( @ TravelGov)
February 4, 2020
Americans who remain in China should take precautionary measures, including `` stocking up on food, ''
the State Department said
.
After the first evacuation flight for US citizens from Wuhan, passengers board buses at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California, on January 29.
California father waits to reunite with wife and children
San Diego resident Kenneth Burnett was hoping his wife and two children will be on one of Tuesday's flights, he told CNN on Monday.
His wife, Yanjun Wei, 3-year-old son Rowan, and 1-year-old daughter Mia have been holed up in a high-rise apartment in Wuhan. He was supposed to join them there to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the outbreak shut the city down, he said.
What it means to be under a federal quarantine
`` It's terrifying. It is very dramatic to shut down ( an area) of 50 million people. You think to yourself, if that can happen what else can happen? '' Burnett said.
The three were tentatively booked on an evacuation flight out, he said, after he contacted the State Department and the US Embassy in China for help. The children are US citizens; his wife is due to take her citizenship exam this month.
`` We think my wife and kids will get seats, but they basically they won't guarantee anything. They 'll say maybe the Chinese authorities won't allow it. We know that other countries have not had some of these problems. We feel like other countries haven't felt this problem, '' he said.
Unions call for feds to engage their groups
Two unions representing flight attendants, teachers and health care professionals
called on the federal government Tuesday
to provide a more robust and coordinated response to the outbreak.
The White House last week announced the formation of a coronavirus task force.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines, issued a list of demands for the federal government and argued the Trump administration needs to do more to combat the outbreak.
Nelson said she wants the government to engage unions and associations, convene workgroups, issue uniform guidance across industries and distribute materials and supplies to stakeholders.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Transportation for comment on the unions ' concerns.
CNN's Steven Jiang reported from Beijing; Jason Hanna and Steve Almasy wrote in Atlanta. Jennifer Hansler, Geneva Sands, Christina Maxouris, Madeline Holcombe, Marnie Hunter and Lucy Kafanov contributed to this report. | general |
Treasury yields pop as investors return to risk assets | Treasury yields jumped on Tuesday as investors returned to risk assets after a deep sell-off last week triggered by the deadly coronavirus.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, jumped six basis points to around 1.5829%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at around 2.0607%.
Global stock markets are seeing a rebound after last week's sell-off on coronavirus fears. The gains came after after a Reuters report said China's central bank could cut its key lending rate as well as banks ' reserve requirement ratios in the coming weeks to support economic growth.
`` Any incoming information on the spread of virus is the most prudent course of action, '' Ian Lyngen, BMO's head of U.S. rates, said in a note on Tuesday.
Stronger-than-expected U.S. manufacturing data boosted investor sentiment on Monday, leading to lower bond prices.
Furthermore, bond investors are waiting for the results from Iowa caucuses, which were delayed late Monday night. The Democratic Party said there has been a `` reporting issue. ''
President Trump is due to deliver his State of the Union speech at 9 p.m. ET.
On the data front, there will be factory orders at 10 a.m. E.T. Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and World Bank Group President David Malpass are due to speak at 9.30 a.m. ET.
There are no auctions scheduled. | business |
Disney+ has already scored nearly 28.6 million subscribers since launch |
Disney+
has brought in nearly 30 million subscribers since its launch in November, the company reported on Tuesday.
The company's new streaming service nabbed 26.5 million subscribers last quarter, the company said in its earnings report on Tuesday, exceeding analyst expectations.
Disney+'s growth has continued this year, and the service has 28.6 million subscribers as of Monday, Bob Iger, Disney's CEO, said in an earnings call.
Disney+,
which launched on November 12
, is the company's first foray into the streaming world. The service, which includes Disney's deep content vault and an affordable price of $ 6.99 per month, is a major endeavor for the company and a shift in focus for its business overall. Disney has projected that Disney+ will have
60 million to 90 million global subscribers by 2025.
`` We had a strong first quarter, highlighted by the launch of Disney+, which has exceeded even our greatest expectations, '' Bob Iger, Disney's CEO, said in a statement on Tuesday. `` Thanks to our incredible collection of brands, outstanding content from our creative engines and state-of-the-art technology, we believe our direct-to-consumer services, including Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, position us well for continued growth in today's dynamic media environment. ''
Read More
Disney also reported that revenue at the company rose to $ 20.8 billion, a 36% increase compared to a year earlier. The number matched Wall Street's expectations.
Disney
(
DIS
)
saw positive revenue across the board. The company's movie studio had a strong quarter with $ 3.7 billion in revenue, which was up more than 100% over the year prior. The company's streaming unit also saw revenue go up more than 100% from last year, bringing in $ 3.9 billion.
Disney also gave details about Hulu and ESPN+, its other streaming services. ESPN+ has 7.6 million subscribers and Hulu has 30.7 million subscribers as of Monday.
Both ESPN+ and Hulu likely saw a bump thanks to being a part of a
streaming bundle alongside Disney+
for $ 12.99 a month.
The box office had a big 2019 thanks to Disney
Disney+ includes many of the company's major brands including Marvel films, Disney animated classics and an original series set in the Star Wars galaxy, `` The Mandalorian. ''
The other major topic of discussion on Disney's post-earnings call was how the company's businesses could be impacted by the coronavirus going forward.
The company told investors that Disney could take a $ 175 million hit due to its China theme parks being closed because of the virus, assuming the parks are closed for two months.
Disney shares were mostly flat in after-hours trading. | general |
Chinese doctor who was silenced now has coronavirus | Li explained that, according to a test he had seen, the illness was a coronavirus -- a large family of viruses that includes severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS).
Memories of SARS run deep in China, where a pandemic in 2003 killed hundreds following a government cover up. `` I only wanted to remind my university classmates to be careful, '' he said.
Li, a 34-year-old doctor working in Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, told his friends to warn their loved ones privately. But within hours screenshots of his messages had gone viral -- without his name being blurred. `` When I saw them circulating online, I realized that it was out of my control and I would probably be punished, '' Li said.
He was right.
Soon after he posted the message, Li was accused of rumor-mongering by the Wuhan police. He was one of several medics targeted by police for trying to blow the whistle on the deadly virus in the early weeks of the outbreak. The virus has since claimed at least 425 lives and sickened more than 20,000 people globally -- including Li.
From an intensive care bed in hospital, Li told CNN he was confirmed Saturday to have contracted the virus.
His diagnosis has sparked outrage across China, where a backlash is growing against state censorship around the illness and an initial delay in warning the public about the deadly virus.
Summoned by the police
On the same day in December that Li messaged his friends, an emergency notice was issued by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, informing the city's medical institutions that a series of patients from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market had an `` unknown pneumonia. ''
The notice came with a warning: `` Any organizations or individuals are not allowed to release treatment information to the public without authorization. ''
In the early hours of December 31, Wuhan's health authorities held an emergency meeting to discuss the outbreak. Afterwards, Li was summoned by officials at his hospital to explain how he knew about the cases, according to state-run newspaper Beijing Youth Daily.
Later that day, the Wuhan authorities announced the outbreak and alerted the World Health Organization. But Li's troubles did not end there.
On January 3, Li was called to a local police station and reprimanded for `` spreading rumors online '' and `` severely disrupting social order '' over the message he sent in the chat group.
In that message, Li said the patients had been diagnosed with SARS, citing the test result that showed the pathogen tested positive for the SARS virus with a high `` confidence coefficient '' -- a measure indicating the accuracy of the test. He clarified in a subsequent message that the virus was actually a different type of coronavirus, but the screenshot of his first message had already spread online.
Li had to sign a statement -- which CNN has seen a photograph of -- acknowledging his `` misdemeanor '' and promising not to commit further `` unlawful acts. ''
He feared he was going to be detained. `` My family would worry sick about me, if I lose my freedom for a few days, '' he told CNN over a text message on WeChat -- he was coughing too much and breathing too poorly to speak over the phone.
Luckily, Li was allowed to leave the police station after an hour.
The Wuhan police has not responded to CNN's request for comment at the time of publishing. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission declined to comment.
The ophthalmologist returned to work at Wuhan Central Hospital feeling helpless. He said: `` There was nothing I could do. ( Everything) has to adhere to the official line. ''
On January 10, after unwittingly treating a patient with the Wuhan coronavirus, Li started coughing and developed a fever the next day. He was hospitalized on January 12. In the following days, Li's condition deteriorated so badly that he was admitted to the intensive care unit, and given oxygen support.
On February 1, he tested positive for coronavirus.
Playing down the outbreak
From the start, the Chinese authorities wanted to control information about the outbreak, silencing any voices that differed with their narrative -- regardless of whether they were telling the truth.
On January 1, the Wuhan police announced it had `` taken legal measures '' against eight people who had recently `` published and shared rumors online '' about the pneumonia-like illness and `` caused adverse impacts on society. ''
`` The internet is not a land beyond the law... Any unlawful acts of fabricating, spreading rumors and disturbing the social order will be punished by police according to the law, with zero tolerance, '' said a police statement on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform.
The police announcement was broadcast across the country on CCTV, China's state broadcaster, making it clear how the Chinese government would treat such `` rumormongers. ''
In the two weeks that followed, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission remained the only source for updates on the developments of the outbreak. Chinese scientists identified the pathogen as a new coronavirus on January 7. For about a week, no new confirmed cases were announced. Health authorities maintained there was `` no obvious evidence for human to human transmission, '' no infection of healthcare workers, and that the outbreak was `` preventable and controllable. ''
On January 31, Li wrote in a post on Weibo how he felt during that period: `` I was wondering why ( the government's) official notices were still saying there was no human-to-human transmission, and there were no healthcare workers infected. ''
Then came a sudden jump in infections. Until January 17, the Wuhan authorities had only reported 41 cases of the virus. By January 20, that number had soared to 198.
The central government took over and, on January 20, President Xi Jinping ordered `` resolute efforts to curb the spread '' of the coronavirus and stressed the need for the timely release of information -- it was the first time Xi had publicly addressed the outbreak.
Later that evening, Zhong Nanshan, a government-appointed respiratory expert, known for fighting SARS 17 years ago, declared on state broadcaster CCTV that the new coronavirus was transmissible from person to person.
Three days later, authorities placed an unprecedented lockdown on Wuhan, the economic engine and transportation hub of China's central heartland -- but five million people had already left the city for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Now, the virus has spread to every region in the country, including the far western frontier of Xinjiang and the remote region of Tibet.
In an interview with CCTV on January 27, Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang admitted his government did not disclose information on the coronavirus `` in a timely fashion. ''
He explained that under Chinese law on infectious diseases, the local government first needs to report the outbreak to national health authorities, and then get approval from the State Council before making an announcement.
`` For the late disclosure, I hope everyone can understand that this is an infectious disease, and relevant information has special channels to be disclosed in accordance with law, '' he said.
Public uproar
By late January, the Wuhan government's mishandling of the outbreak was becoming well-understood in China. Many online thought of the group of eight `` rumormongers, '' saying their early warnings could have saved hundreds of lives.
Calls for the eight to be vindicated grew -- even in state media. Xi's call for the timely release of information was seen as a green light to report on the coronavirus and Chinese journalists began producing in-depth coverage and hard-hitting investigative reports. The state-run newspaper Beijing Youth Daily interviewed Li and the article went viral. The piece was censored within hours, but the uproar remained.
As public anger mounted, China's Supreme Court on January 28 criticized the Wuhan police for punishing the `` rumormongers. ''
`` It might have been a fortunate thing for containing the new coronavirus, if the public had listened to this 'rumor ' at the time, and adopted measures such as wearing masks, strict disinfection and avoiding going to the wildlife market, '' the Supreme Court commentary said.
Bowing to pressure, the Wuhan police issued a statement the next day, saying the eight people had only committed `` particularly minor '' misdemeanors for spreading `` unverified information. '' It said they had only been summoned for a talk and not detained or fined.
On Saturday, another `` rumormonger '' came forward with her story in the Chinese press.
Xie Linka, an oncologist at Wuhan Union Hospital, told Chinese media she received a warning from police after sending an alert to her colleagues in a WeChat group on the evening of December 30.
In the message, Xie relayed a warning from fellow doctors about an infectious disease: `` Don't go to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the near future. Several people were found to have contracted an unknown pneumonia similar to SARS there. Today our hospital has received multiple patients from the market. Everyone please remember to wear masks and ventilate properly. ''
Now recovering in a quarantine ward, Li said he was not sure if he was one of the eight `` rumormongers. '' But he felt relieved after reading the Supreme Court commentary, taking it as a sign that the central government is against giving him a harsh punishment.
On Li's Weibo, tens of thousands have left comments thanking him for speaking out and wishing him a speedy discovery.
`` Dr Li, you're a good doctor with conscience. I hope you stay safe and sound, '' read one of the top-rated comments.
Others have questioned what could have been if Li's warning had been heeded.
`` If Wuhan had paid attention to [ his warning ] back then and taken active preventive measures, '' wrote another Weibo user, `` where we stand now a month later could be a completely different picture. '' | business |
Wuhan coronavirus: Confirmed cases top 20,000 as China marks deadliest day |
The spread of the
Wuhan coronavirus
shows no signs of slowing, as China reported another major spike in both confirmed cases and deaths in the region at the heart of the epidemic.
The total number of confirmed cases in China stands at 20,438 as of Tuesday morning, including a 1-month-old baby in southwestern Guizhou province, an increase of 3,235 on the previous day -- an over 18% jump. The death toll is now at 425 in China,
an increase of around 65 from Sunday
.
China's National Health Commission said Tuesday that the death rate from the virus stands at 2.1% nationwide. The figure is higher for Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, at 3.1%. A spokeswoman for the commission said 80% of victims were over the age of 60 and 75% had some form of underlying condition.
Outside of China, the prevalence of the virus remains far lower, but at least 207 cases have been reported i
n over two dozen countries and territories
. Two people have died outside mainland China since the outbreak began. One in the Philippines, and another in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong, which reported on Tuesday that a 39-year-old man who had traveled to Wuhan last month had died.
Several countries, including the United States, are denying entry to foreign nationals who have recently visited China. Meanwhile, the UK has advised British nationals in mainland China to leave the country if they are able, and is advising against `` all but essential '' travel to China.
Two more flights carrying Americans fleeing coronavirus are expected to leave Wuhan soon
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In a meeting with top officials Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called the virus outbreak a `` major test of China's system and capacity for governance, '' as the extended Lunar New Year holiday and growing concerns began to take a toll on the country's economy.
According to state media, Xi demanded `` resolute opposition against bureaucratism and the practice of formalities for formalities ' sake in the prevention work, '' adding that those who disobeyed would be punished. His comments could be an indication that frustration is growing over the failure to rein in the virus, and the slow initial response by Wuhan officials, some of whom have already offered to resign over their handling of the crisis.
Xi also called for an improvement in the country's emergency management system, an `` overhaul of environmental sanitation, '' improvements to public health, and a `` crackdown on illegal wildlife markets and trade. ''
Worldwide crisis
Even as cases of the virus are reported worldwide, the majority of patients have a link to China, either tourists or people returning home from a visit to the country. Person-to-person transmission of the virus has been confirmed, however, including among some patients overseas, and countries are scrambling to ensure it does not spread further afield.
On Monday, authorities in
Japan quarantined a cruise ship
at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, after an elderly male passenger on the vessel was found to be infected with the virus when he disembarked in Hong Kong in late January.
Japanese health authorities said around 2,500 passengers and some 1,000 crew members are on board the Diamond Princess, which returned to Yokohama after stops in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Japanese prefectures of Okinawa and Kagoshima. At least seven people on board said they feel ill, though none have been confirmed to have the virus.
The cruise ship will remain in Yokohama port overnight, city officials announced Tuesday, with no one allowed to leave the vessel while officials test the group.
Japan is one of around a dozen countries which have evacuated citizens from Wuhan, which remains on tight lockdown along with much of surrounding Hubei province. Italy repatriated 56 nationals on Monday, as the US said it would send additional flights to evacuate hundreds of Americans who remain in Hubei.
Closer to China, the semiautonomous city of Macao announced on Tuesday that it will suspend operations of gambling and related industries for half a month in an effort to contain the virus.
The outbreak has had a devastating impact on tourism in the gambling enclave, which relies heavily on mainland Chinese visitors. Gambling is illegal on the mainland and Lunar New Year is usually a particularly busy time for Macao's casinos. But not this year -- tourism to the city has dropped 73.6% year-on-year, the Macao government announced on January 29.
The self-governing island of Taiwan said on Tuesday that it will
implement entry restrictions
for foreign nationals who have been to mainland China starting on Friday.
The restrictions mean that any foreign national who has visited or lived in mainland China in the past 14 days will be denied entry to Taiwan, barring exceptions for those needing to enter for `` special reasons, '' according to the island's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
And Hong Kong on Monday announced further closures to its borders with the mainland. All but three crossings, including the two busiest land borders, are now closed.
The announcement by the semiautonomous city's leader Carrie Lam came after health care workers began strike action Monday to demand the city be fully sealed off from the mainland. Memories of the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak run deep in Hong Kong, where many businesses have sent workers home to avoid spread of the virus. Unions said strike action will continue Tuesday unless further action is taken by Lam.
Economic pain
With the virus outbreak in its third month with no signs of slowing, cities across China have announced further efforts to try and stop it.
Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on Monday
reportedly announced
some of the tightest quarantine measures outside Hubei. People returning to the city from outside Hangzhou could face up to two weeks in quarantine, while all public places will be closed for the foreseeable future, according to local media.
The stringent restrictions and extended holidays across much of China are beginning to impact the country's economy, however. China's stock markets
posted major losses on Monday
, their first day open following the Lunar New Year break.
The losses on the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets wiped out a combined $ 445 billion in value. Monday was Shanghai's worst day since 2015, and Shenzhen's worst since 2007.
The value of the Chinese yuan also fell, while
global oil prices have suffered
amid fears that the virus outbreak will destroy demand in China, the world's largest crude importer.
Authorities in China have already announced a 1.2 trillion yuan ( $ 173 billion) injection into Chinese markets to help maintain `` reasonably ample liquidity '' in the banking system and keep currency markets stable. The net amount of cash flooding into the market will be closer to 150 billion yuan ( $ 22 billion), according to Reuters, as more than 1 trillion yuan worth of other short-term bond agreements matured Monday.
Hong Kong is also bracing for further difficulties. The city was already in a technical recession after more than six months of anti-government protests and the US-China trade war, and many
analysts fear the effects of the virus could wipe out many businesses
.
While the national economy is already suffering, it's unclear how long Chinese workers can remain at home, with many facing several weeks out of work since the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday. Many migrant workers will have traveled home for the festival, potentially leaving them trapped in their provinces and unable to return to the east coast, where most major manufacturing areas are.
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Medical staff wearing protective suits ride down an escalator at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport on Wednesday, March 18.
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Hasidic Jewish men take part in a
`` social distancing '' minyan
in New York on Tuesday, March 17.
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A patient in a biocontainment unit is carried on a stretcher in Rome on March 17.
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A pedestrian walks a dog through a quiet street in New York on March 17.
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People gather to collect free face masks in New Delhi on March 17.
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Dermot Hickey, left, and Phillip Vega ask a pedestrian in New York to take their picture on a thinly trafficked Fifth Avenue on March 17. Many streets across the world are much more bare as people distance themselves from others. In the United States, the White House has advised people
not to gather in groups of more than 10.
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Students at the Attarkiah Islamic School wear face masks during a ceremony in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat on March 17.
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People wait outside a Woolworths store in Sunbury, Australia on March 17. Australian supermarket chains announced special shopping hours for the elderly and people with disabilities so that they can shop in less crowded aisles.
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A member of Spain's Military Emergencies Unit carries out a general disinfection at the Malaga airport on Monday, March 16.
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Displaced families near Atme, Syria, attend a workshop aimed at spreading awareness about the coronavirus.
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French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on a screen in Paris as he announces new coronavirus containment measures on March 16.
France has been put on lockdown,
and all nonessential outings are outlawed and can draw a fine of up to €135 ( $ 148). Macron also promised to support French businesses by guaranteeing €300 billion worth of loans and suspending rent and utility bills owed by small companies.
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A police officer checks the temperatures of bus passengers at a checkpoint in Manila, Philippines, on March 16.
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Flowers are stored prior to their destruction at a flower auction in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, on March 16. Lower demand due to the coronavirus outbreak is threatening the Dutch horticultural sector, forcing the destruction of products.
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Two nuns greet neighbors from their balcony in Turin, Italy, on Sunday, March 15.
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Pope Francis, inside the Church of San Marcello in Rome's city center,
prays at a famous crucifix
that believers claim helped to save Romans from the plague in 1522.
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Passengers wait for their flights at Marrakesh Airport in Morocco on March 15.
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US Vice President Mike Pence takes a question during a White House briefing about the coronavirus on March 15.
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A Sea World employee sprays disinfectant in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday, March 14.
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People wait in line to go through customs at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on March 14. Travelers returning from Europe say they were
being made to wait for hours
at US airports, often in close quarters, as personnel screened them for the coronavirus.
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Hundreds of people lined up to enter a Costco in Novato, California, on March 14. Many people have been stocking up on food, toilet paper and other items. As a response to
panic buying,
retailers in the United States and Canada have started limiting the number of toilet paper that customers can buy in one trip.
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A member of the White House physician's office takes a media member's temperature in the White House briefing room on March 14. It was ahead of a news conference with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
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Reporters in Arlington, Virginia, sit approximately 4 feet apart during a briefing by Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie on Friday, March 13.
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People walk past a closed Broadway theater on March 13 after New York canceled all gatherings over 500 people.
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Body temperatures are scanned as people enter the Buddhist temple Wat Pho in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 13.
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A Costco customer stands by two shopping carts in Richmond, California, on March 13.
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A teacher works in an empty classroom at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.
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A woman looks at an empty bread aisle in Antwerp, Belgium, on March 13.
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Employees of the Greek Parliament wear plastic gloves ahead of the swearing-in ceremony for Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
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A motorcyclist drives through disinfectant sprayed in Jammu, India, on March 13.
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Workers prepare to construct an additional building on a hospital on the outskirts of Moscow.
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Paul Boyer, head equipment manager of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, wheels out equipment bags in Washington on Thursday, March 12. The NHL is among the sports leagues that have suspended their seasons.
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Students leave Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish, Washington, on March 12. Beginning the following day, schools in the Snohomish school district planned to be closed through April 24.
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An Uber Eats delivery biker stands at a deserted Piazza di Spagna in Rome.
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People at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, watch a live broadcast of US President Donald Trump on March 12. Trump announced that, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, he would
sharply restrict travel
from more than two dozen European countries.
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Workers in protective suits disinfect Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace on March 11.
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A person wearing a face mask walks outside of a shopping mall in Beijing on March 11.
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Police officers restrain the relative of an inmate outside the Sant'Anna jail in Modena, Italy, on March 9.
Riots broke out
in several Italian jails after visits were suspended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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Medical staff in Wuhan, China, celebrate after all coronavirus patients were discharged from a temporary hospital on March 9.
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 9.
Stocks plummeted
as coronavirus worries and an oil price race to the bottom weighed on global financial markets.
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Rescuers search for victims at the site of a
collapsed hotel
in Quanzhou, China, on March 8. The hotel was being used as a coronavirus quarantine center.
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The Grand Princess cruise ship, carrying at least 21 people who tested positive for coronavirus, is seen off the coast of San Francisco on March 8.
The ship was being held at sea.
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Sumo wrestlers attend a tournament in Osaka, Japan, that was being held behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak.
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A couple rides a bicycle at a park in Seoul, South Korea, on March 7.
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A volunteer from Blue Sky Rescue uses fumigation equipment to disinfect a residential compound in Beijing on March 5.
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Airmen from the California National Guard drop coronavirus testing kits down to the
Grand Princess cruise ship
off the coast of California on March 5.
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Municipal workers are seen at the Kaaba, inside Mecca's Grand Mosque. Saudi Arabia emptied Islam's holiest site for sterilization over coronavirus fears, an unprecedented move after the kingdom suspended the year-round Umrah pilgrimage.
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Passengers react as a worker wearing a protective suit disinfects the departure area of a railway station in Hefei, China, on March 4.
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Teachers at the Nagoya International School in Japan conduct an online class for students staying at home as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.
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Soldiers spray disinfectant throughout a shopping street in Seoul.
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A Muslim worshipper attends a mass prayer against coronavirus in Dakar, Senegal, on March 4. It was after cases were confirmed in the country.
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People wear face masks in New York's Times Square on March 3. New York reported its first case of coronavirus two days earlier.
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A security guard stands on the Shibuya Sky observation deck in Tokyo on March 3.
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US President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, speaks during a meeting with pharmaceutical executives and the White House coronavirus task force on March 2. Throughout
the meeting,
Trump was hyperfocused on pressing industry leaders in the room for a timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and treatment. But experts at the table -- from the administration and the pharmaceutical industry -- repeatedly emphasized that a vaccine can't be rushed to market before it's been declared safe for the public.
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Medical staff stand outside a hospital in Daegu, South Korea, on March 1.
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Healthcare workers transfer a patient at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, on March 1. The long-term care facility is linked to confirmed coronavirus cases.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a London laboratory of the Public Health England National Infection Service.
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Tomoyuki Sugano, a professional baseball player on the Yomiuri Giants, throws a pitch in an empty Tokyo Dome during a preseason game on February 29. Fans have been barred from preseason games to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
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Commuters wearing masks make their way to work during morning rush hour at the Shinagawa train station in Tokyo on February 28.
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Medical staff transport a coronavirus patient within the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on February 28.
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Inter Milan plays Ludogorets in an empty soccer stadium in Milan, Italy, on February 27. The match
was ordered to be played behind closed doors
as Italian authorities continue to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
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A bank clerk disinfects banknotes in China's Sichuan province on February 26.
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A child wearing a protective face mask rides on a scooter in an empty area in Beijing.
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A Catholic devotee wears a face mask as he is sprinkled with ash during Ash Wednesday services in Paranaque, Philippines, on February 26.
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People disinfect Qom's Masumeh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on February 25.
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A worker in Daegu stacks plastic buckets containing medical waste from coronavirus patients on February 24.
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Paramedics carry a stretcher off an ambulance in Hong Kong on February 23.
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People attend a professional soccer match in Kobe, Japan, on February 23. To help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the soccer club Vissel Kobe
told fans not to sing, chant or wave flags
in the season opener against Yokohama FC.
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A team of volunteers disinfects a pedestrian bridge in Bangkok, Thailand.
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A man rides his bike in Beijing on February 23.
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Hospital personnel in Codogno, Italy, carry new beds inside the hospital on February 21. The hospital is hosting some people who have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
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Doctors look at a CT scan of a lung at a hospital in Xiaogan, China, on February 20.
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A sales clerk wears a mask as she waits for customers at a hat shop in Beijing on February 18.
Small companies that help drive China's economy
are worried about how much damage
the coronavirus outbreak will cause to business.
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Buses carrying American passengers arrive at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo on February 17. The passengers
were leaving the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship
to be repatriated to the United States.
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A medical worker rests at the isolation ward of the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on February 16.
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Authorities watch as the Westerdam cruise ship approaches a port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on February 13. Despite having no confirmed cases of coronavirus on board, the Westerdam was refused port by four other Asian countries before being allowed to dock in Cambodia.
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A worker has his temperature checked on a shuttered commercial street in Beijing on February 12.
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Beds are made in the Wuhan Sports Center, which has been converted into a temporary hospital.
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A child rides a scooter past a police officer wearing protective gear outside the Hong Mei House in Hong Kong on February 11. More than 100 people evacuated the housing block after four residents in two different apartments tested positive for the coronavirus.
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Relatives of quarantined passengers wave at the Diamond Princess cruise ship as it leaves a port in Yokohama, Japan, to dump wastewater and generate potable water. Dozens of people on the ship
were infected with coronavirus.
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The Deneway branch of the County Oak Medical Centre is closed amid coronavirus fears in Brighton, England, on February 11. Several locations in and around Brighton were quarantined after
a man linked to several coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom
came into contact with health-care workers and members of the public.
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A police officer, left, wears protective gear as he guards a cordon at the Hong Mei House in Hong Kong on February 11.
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A worker wears a protective suit as he waits to screen people entering an office building in Beijing on February 10. China's workforce is
slowly coming back to work
after the coronavirus outbreak forced many parts of the country to extend the Lunar New Year holiday by more than a week.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has his temperature checked during an appearance in Beijing on February 10.
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Photojournalists wearing face masks take photos of a bus carrying passengers after they disembarked from the World Dream cruise ship in Hong Kong on February 9.
More than 5,300 people were quarantined on two cruise ships
off Hong Kong and Japan.
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People participating in a Lunar New Year Parade in New York City hold signs reading, `` Wuhan stay strong! '' on February 9.
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A shopper walks past empty shelves at a grocery store in Hong Kong on February 9. China's Ministry of Commerce
encouraged supermarkets and grocery stores
to resume operations as the country's voluntary or mandatory quarantines began to take an economic toll.
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A worker wearing a protective suit uses a machine to disinfect a business establishment in Shanghai, China, on February 9.
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Workers in protective gear walk near the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama on February 7.
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People in Hong Kong attend a vigil February 7 for
whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang.
Li, 34, died in Wuhan after contracting the virus while treating a patient.
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A woman grieves while paying tribute to Li at Li's hospital in Wuhan on February 7.
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The Anthem of the Seas cruise ship is seen docked at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey, on February 7. Passengers were to be screened for coronavirus as a precaution, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN.
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A light installation is displayed by striking members of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance and other activists at the Hospital Authority building in Hong Kong on February 7.
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Passengers are seen on the deck of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked at the Yokohama Port on February 7.
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Flight attendants wearing face masks make their way through Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on February 7.
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Workers check sterile medical gloves at a latex-product manufacturer in Nanjing, China, on February 6.
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A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a Beijing market on February 6.
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This aerial photo shows the Leishenshan Hospital that is being built in Wuhan to handle coronavirus patients.
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A passenger shows a note from the World Dream cruise ship docked at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong on February 5.
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A mask is seen on a statue in Beijing on February 5.
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An ambulance stops at a traffic light in front of the Grand Lisboa Hotel in Macao. The virus turned China's gambling mecca
into a ghost town.
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A dog in Beijing wears a makeshift mask constructed from a paper cup.
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Striking hospital workers in Hong Kong demand the closure of the border with mainland China on February 4.
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The Diamond Princess cruise ship sits anchored in quarantine off the port of Yokohama on February 4. It arrived a day earlier with passengers feeling ill.
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A medical worker wearing protective gear waits to take the temperature of people entering Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong on February 4.
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Medical workers in protective suits help transfer patients to a newly completed field hospital in Wuhan.
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People wearing protective overalls talk outside a Wuhan hotel housing people in isolation on February 3.
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A man stands in front of TV screens broadcasting a speech by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on February 3. Lam said the city would shut almost all border-control points to the mainland.
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A colleague sprays disinfectant on a doctor in Wuhan on February 3.
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Commuters in Tokyo walk past an electric board displaying dismal stock prices on February 3, the first business day after the Chinese New Year. Asia's markets recorded their
worst day in years
as investors finally got a chance to react to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
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Medical workers move a coronavirus patient into an isolation ward at the Second People's Hospital in Fuyang, China, on February 1.
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Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift masks while waiting to check in to a flight at the Beijing Capital Airport on January 30.
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Passengers in Hong Kong wear protective masks as they wait to board a train at Lo Wu Station, near the mainland border, on January 30.
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A volunteer wearing protective clothing disinfects a street in Qingdao, China, on January 29.
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Nanning residents line up to buy face masks from a medical appliance store on January 29.
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Lyu Jun, left, a member of a medical team leaving for Wuhan, says goodbye to a loved one in Urumqi, China, on January 28.
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A charter flight from Wuhan arrives at an airport in Anchorage, Alaska, on January 28. The US government chartered the plane to bring home US citizens and diplomats from the American consulate in Wuhan.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in wears a mask to inspect the National Medical Center in Seoul on January 28.
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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, center, attends a news conference in Hong Kong on January 28. Lam said China will stop individual travelers to Hong Kong while closing some border checkpoints and restricting flights and train services from the mainland.
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Workers at an airport in Novosibirsk, Russia, check the temperatures of passengers who arrived from Beijing on January 28.
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Alex Azar, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, speaks during a news conference about the American public-health response.
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Two residents walk in an empty park in Wuhan on January 27. The city remained on lockdown for a fourth day.
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A person wears a protective mask, goggles and coat as he stands in a nearly empty street in Beijing on January 26.
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Medical staff members bring a patient to the Wuhan Red Cross hospital on January 25.
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People wear protective masks as they walk under Lunar New Year decorations in Beijing on January 25.
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Construction workers in Wuhan begin to work on a special hospital to deal with the outbreak on January 24.
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Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, speaks to reporters on January 24 about
a patient in Chicago
who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The patient was the second in the United States to be diagnosed with the illness.
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A couple kisses goodbye as they travel for the Lunar New Year holiday in Beijing on January 24.
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Workers manufacture protective face masks at a factory in China's Hubei Province on January 23.
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Shoppers wear masks in a Wuhan market on January 23.
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Passengers are checked by a thermography device at an airport in Osaka, Japan, on January 23.
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People wear masks while shopping for vegetables in Wuhan on January 23.
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A militia member checks the body temperature of a driver in Wuhan on January 23.
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Passengers wear masks as they arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, on January 23.
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A customer holds boxes of particulate respirators at a pharmacy in Hong Kong on January 23.
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Passengers wear masks at the high-speed train station in Hong Kong on January 23.
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People in Guangzhou, China, wear protective masks on January 22.
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Medical staff of Wuhan's Union Hospital attend a gathering on January 22.
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Health officials hold a news conference in Beijing on January 22.
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Treating the virus
The coronavirus outbreak is not being considered a pandemic by World Health Organization ( WHO) officials who are hopeful that transmission of the virus can be contained.
The agency acknowledged on Tuesday that it is challenging to contain the virus because of global mass movement, but trust that the control measures in place will stop transmission.
`` We believe it can be done with containment measures currently in place, '' Sylvie Briand, director of the Infectious Hazards Management Department at the WHO, said on Tuesday.
Amid all the misery, there are some small signs of hope.
Officials in Thailand said Monday that a second patient has been treated with a new combination of HIV and flu drugs, after doctors said the cocktail had been successful in treating a 71-year-old woman from China with the virus. Officials have yet to provide an update on the success of the treatment for the second patient.
Thailand's Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that the 71-year-old had the most severe symptoms of all those in care in the country. While he cautioned against placing too much expectation on a tiny number of cases, Anutin said he hoped `` other academic, medical or research institutions can take this treatment result and find more facts as much as they can do. ''
`` And if it turned out the dosage and method of treatment we applied could cure every case, it will be beneficial to humanity, `` Anutin added.
Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical firm with an experimental antiviral drug called remdesivir that is used to treat the Ebola virus, said late Friday it is
working with Chinese health authorities
to see if the medication can combat the symptoms of coronavirus.
The company said in a statement that remdesivir has demonstrated some success in treating Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) -- two viruses similar to the Wuhan coronavirus -- in animals.
A purpose-built hospital dedicated to treating the virus also
opened in Wuhan Monday
. The institution was constructed in under a week, and a second is due to open Thursday. Both will only handle coronavirus patients, helping to take the pressure off the severely stretched Wuhan healthcare system.
Chinese health officials said that the average time needed for a patient to recover is nine days. However, in Hubei province, the average recovery time is currently at 20 days because there are more severe cases.
The death rate has also been higher in Hubei because of a lack of hospital beds and large number of cases creating delays in treatment.
CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing; Kocha Alorn in Bangkok; Junko Ogura in Tokyo; and Carly Walsh, Laura He and Nectar Gan in Hong Kong; and Lindsay Isaac, Zahid Mahmood and Meera Senthilingam in London contributed reporting. | general |
Macao will close its casinos for two weeks over the coronavirus outbreak | The government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory will suspend operations in gambling and other related industries for about two weeks, Macao Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said during a press conference Tuesday.
Macao has 10 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, which has killed at least 427 people and infected more than 20,000, mainly in China.
Ho said that the decision was made after an expert review, as the ninth confirmed patient was discovered to have worked in the gambling industry.
Macao officials told CNN that the date the suspension will start hasn't yet been decided. The city's leader planned to meet with representatives from gambling companies on Tuesday.
Casino stocks dropped in Hong Kong following the announcement. Galaxy Entertainment and Sands China, both components of the Hang Seng Index ( HSI), declined by 2%.
Shares in Wynn Macau ( WYNMF) and MGM China ( MCHVF), which also trade in Hong Kong, fell 1.7% and 2.2%, respectively. In the United States, Wynn ( WYNN) and MGM ( MGM) tumbled 3% in premarket trading. Las Vegas Sands ( LVS) fell 5%.
Gambling is the lifeblood of Macao, a vibrant southern Chinese city that depends on millions of visitors from mainland China. But the recent global health scare has threatened the business model at the heart of Macao's economy.
Last year, the city received almost 40 million visitors. Now, streets and squares once teeming with tourists from mainland China are empty. Ambulances roam the city, operated by emergency workers dressed in hazardous materials suits.
According to the Macao government, January tourism figures plunged 87% compared to the previous year, even though the busiest holiday of the year — Lunar New Year — fell during that period.
— Laura He, Ivan Watson and Brad Olson contributed to this report. | business |
Researchers say the coronavirus may be more contagious than current data shows | Infectious disease specialists and scientists say the new coronavirus that's shuttering companies across mainland China may be more contagious than current data shows.
Emerging in Wuhan, China, about a month ago, the virus has spread from about 300 people as of Jan. 21 to close to 21,000 and killed more than 420 — with the number of new cases growing by the thousands every day.
`` The rapid acceleration of cases is of concern, '' Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's emergencies program, said at a news conference last week before the agency declared a global health emergency.
Chinese scientists worry the respiratory illness, which world health officials say likely came from a fish market, has mutated to adapt to its new human hosts far more quickly than SARS. Data on the virus is changing by the day, and some infectious disease specialists say it will take weeks before they can see just how contagious it is. What they're seeing so far is concerning and leading U.S. and international scientists to believe the virus is more contagious than the current data shows, according to interviews with epidemiologists, scientists and infectious disease specialists.
The disease is spreading quickly. China's health minister, Ma Xiaowei, told reporters last month that there is evidence it's already mutated into a stronger variation that is able to spread more easily among humans. World health officials know the respiratory disease is capable of spreading through human-to-human contact, droplets carried through sneezing and coughing, and germs left on inanimate objects. The illness is cable of spreading before symptoms show, and about 20% of patients become severely ill, leading to pneumonia and respiratory failure, health officials say.
`` [ The ] continued increase in cases and the evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of China are, of course, most deeply disturbing, '' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news conference at the organization's Geneva headquarters last week. `` Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak. ''
The so-called R naught of the disease, a mathematical equation that shows how many people will get sick from each infected person, is around 2.2, according to a report last week from the New England Journal of Medicine. That means two or more people will catch the virus from a person who already has it, making it more infectious than the seasonal flu and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which had an R naught of about 1.8 and killed at least 50 million people across the world. The current R naught of the new virus is lower than the 2003 SARS outbreak, which had an R naught of between 2 and 5. World health officials caution that it may take months before the true R naught is known as more coronavirus cases come to light.
Measles, one of the most contagious viruses in the world, has an R naught around 12 to 18. While the new coronavirus is milder, by comparison, what physicians have seen so far is still concerning, said Yanzhong Huang, a public health researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University.
`` If the R naught is higher than 1, it will spread and it will be contagious, '' Huang said in a phone interview with CNBC. `` Without any containment measures, technically it can spread to the whole population. ''
Additionally, the virus's current transmission number may be underestimated by scientists who currently have very limited data, according to Huang. While the new virus appears to be less lethal than the 2003 SARS outbreak, which sickened 8,098 people and killed almost 800 over nine months, it is spreading significantly faster. It took the new virus less than a month to surpass the number of SARS cases.
`` A relatively mild virus can cause a lot of damage if a lot of people get it, '' WHO's Ryan said last week. `` And this is the issue at the moment. We don't fully understand it. ''
Researchers from Lancaster University in England estimated the virus's R naught may be closer to 3.1, saying `` current clinical and epidemiological data are insufficient to understand the full extent of the transmission potential of the epidemic '' and the outbreak comes `` at a time when there is a substantial increase in travel volume '' due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong say more than 75,000 individuals could already be infected with the virus, much higher than the official total. Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins believes infections are likely above 100,000.
`` Based on the current trajectory of the virus, [ the R naught ] should be higher than SARS, '' Huang said.
It's also possible the R naught estimate could decrease or differ, depending on how well other countries contain local outbreaks, according to Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The U.S. is imposing mandatory quarantines on citizens returning from Wuhan and is denying entry to many others who 've recently been in China. Vaccinations are effective as well, though there are currently no proven therapies for the new coronavirus. Health officials in 2003 were able to reduce SARS ' infections by keeping patients in isolation, among other measures.
`` Most other infections that we know [ have a higher R naught ] than that but we control them with vaccines so we don't notice that they are so high, '' said Lipsitch, who added it may take weeks before scientists have a firm grasp on how contagious the new virus truly is.
The virus could also begin to lessen in some parts of the world as spring and summer approach and the weather gets warmer. University of Hong Kong researchers estimate the disease will peak in April.
However, Lipsitch said there is evidence of transmission before symptoms. If that turns out to be the case, isolating individuals will not be effective in curbing transmission, he said.
`` It 'll be group-level interventions like keeping people away in bulk rather than in individual cases, '' he said.
In the U.S., the Trump administration declared the coronavirus a public health emergency, and announced that certain foreign nationals deemed to pose a risk of transmitting the disease will temporarily be denied entry to the U.S.
`` We are preparing as if this were the next pandemic, but we are hopeful still that this is not and will not be the case, '' Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a call Friday.
The virus `` has demonstrated the capacity to spread globally. This is a very serious public health situation and CDC and the federal government has and will take aggressive action to protect the public, '' she said.
World health officials are urging the public to remain calm, adding they aren't recommending `` measures that unnecessarily interfere with international trade or travel. ''
The WHO's Ryan said the virus appears to be spreading relatively easily from person to person, but the outbreak can be slowed using adequate safeguards in communities and in hospitals.
`` When people talk about [ R naught ] and transmissions dynamics, they talk sometimes as if that's an abstract concept, '' he said. `` When in reality, you can effect those numbers by what you do. The [ R naught ] can be affected by human activity, for the negative and the positive. '' | business |
Jim Cramer's 'Mad Money ' recap & stock picks Feb. 3, 2020 | CNBC's Jim Cramer said investors should not be too quick to jump back in the market after Friday's coronavirus-induced sell-off. The `` Mad Money '' host explained why there's no money to be made in oil and gas stocks. Later in the show, he sat down with Zoom Video Communications CEO Eric Yuan to get a read on how companies ordering their employees to work from home is creating more business for the videoconferencing company.
CNBC's on Monday said he is anticipating another market sell-off and that investors should refrain from putting more money to work in stocks.
The major averages managed to rebound during the session after Friday's drop, where the tanked more than 600 points on heightened fears of the coronavirus ' spread worldwide. Friday's sell-off wiped out the index's gains from the start of the year.
`` I don't want you to jump the gun, people. Let's wait for a real dip, the kind we haven't had yet, before we get more bullish on this market, '' the `` Mad Money '' host said. `` I 'm betting that another shoe will drop on this coronavirus outbreak, and I think it might be a mistake to buy before that happens. ''
Cramer said his negativity toward oil stocks is not about environmentalism but economics.
`` I am not here, though, to take political stands. My job is to help you try to make money, '' the host said.
`` And the honest truth is I don't think I can help you make money in the oil and gas stocks anymore, '' he added.
Cramer's comments followed, when he compared fossil fuel stocks to tobacco companies.
`` I 'm done with fossil fuels... they're just done, '' he said then. `` You're seeing divestiture by a lot of different funds. It's going to be a parade. It's going to be a parade that says, 'Look, these are tobacco and we're not going to own them. ' ''
Cramer called a `` more enticing '' play on the growing video streaming arena than.
`` Roku and The Trade Desk are both high-flying momentum stocks that benefited enormously from cord-cutting, but because Roku's more consumer facing, people reflexively buy this one as the true cord-cutting play, '' the host said. `` And, at this point, I much prefer the less well-known Trade Desk, which has better financials and I think is a better story. ''
CEO Eric Yuan told CNBC his phone was off the hook on Monday as the company's stock popped double digits.
Shares of the cloud-based video conferencing and collaboration provider surged nearly 15% during the trading day as the coronavirus outbreak continued to impact U.S. business operations in and travel to China, forcing affected employees to work remotely. It was the biggest one-day gain for the stock since June, according to FactSet.
`` I had to shut down my phone, because, actually, almost everyone is calling us, '' given the coronavirus, Yuan said in an interview with Cramer.
In Cramer's lightning round, the `` Mad Money '' host ran through his thoughts about callers ' favorite stock picks of the day.
: `` I happen to like Micron. I think that it could still go down a little bit '' on coronavirus fears. `` I would buy some more at $ 49, but I 'd hold on to what you have. ''
: `` I think you got a good one. It's one of the few battery suggestions I am ever going to tell you to buy, but remember because you're younger it is speculative and it's up a great deal, but it does have a sound concept. ''
: `` Wingstop's a winner. I 've liked it for a very long time. ''
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram
Questions, comments, suggestions for the `` Mad Money '' website? madcap @ cnbc.com | business |
Macao requests casinos halt activity amid coronavirus outbreak | The world's most lucrative gambling destination will suspend casino operations, at the request of the government of Macao.
The special administrative region has requested gaming operations at 41 casinos cease for the next 15 days, with a possible extension depending on the severity and duration of the coronavirus outbreak.
MGM Resorts in an email to CNBC responded, `` MGM will follow the government's directions in the fight against this epidemic. We are closing our casinos and gaming areas, while maintaining non-gaming facilities to support hotel guests in both of our properties. We will continue to work closely with the Macau government as the situation progresses. ''
Macao has also enacted a policy requiring casinos to provide local accommodations to non-resident employees ( those who live in China) to protect them against contracting and potentially transmitting the virus, regardless of whether the workers are employed in construction, catering, hotels, cleaning or casinos.
Wynn Resorts issued a statement to CNBC: `` Our greatest concern and our top priority is the health and safety of our employees, their families and the citizens of Macau. We believe that our goals and the goals of the Macau government during this challenging period are fully aligned. We support the Government's decision to prioritize public safety and temporarily suspend the operations of all of Macau's gaming areas, which we believe is in the best long-term interests of everyone concerned. ''
Macao has 10 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Travel to Macao has dropped nearly 80% since the coronavirus outbreak made global headlines in mid-January, when compared with Chinese New Year last year. Macao has considered closing its borders to Mainland China entirely.
Hong Kong is the primary gateway to Macao, and it's closed most of its border with the mainland but not the airport or the bridge that connects Macao to Hong Kong.
Macao gross gaming revenues in January dropped 11.3% year over year, according to Macao's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
`` There's no way to hide from the fact that we employ tens of thousands of people in these markets. And it's an expensive business to operate, '' said Las Vegas Sands President and COO Robert Goldstein on the Sands earnings call last week. `` We're doing our best. We 'll do all the paid-time-off, all things we can do to mitigate, but I think it 'd be silly to think that we can make a material impact on operating costs. They're real. ''
After the closure of casino operations, Jefferies gaming analyst David Katz wrote in a Tuesday morning note, `` Our assumption, and we believe that of the market, is that operations ramp over time and the impact is confined to 1Q20, which may or may not prove correct, but is supporting stocks. The risk remains that the issue endures and impacts economic activity for portions of the remainder of 2020 and therefore volatility remains. ''
In a note published before the official closure of casino operations, Nomura Instinet analyst Harry Curtis estimated MGM China could lose $ 56 million in EBITDA per month, Wynn Macau $ 100 million per month, Melco $ 125 million per month, and Sands China $ 167 million a month because of fixed costs.
But Curtis notes, `` We believe such a costly outcome would be temporary. Any impact on the stocks would be temporary and most likely signal a near-term bottom. ''
That may be one factor behind the rally in casino stocks, in spite of the news of the suspension of gambling operations.
As of midday trading, MGM, Wynn and Melco were each trading roughly 3.5% up. Las Vegas Sands lagged just slightly at about 2.5% higher on the day.
The coronavirus outbreak is also a blow to Macao itself, which gets as much as 86% of its tax revenues from the gaming industry. And Macao's loss may be the gain of online gaming operators based in the Philippines, which are seeing a 90% jump in traffic, according to Jason Ader, casino expert at SpringOwl Asset Management and former board member at Las Vegas Sands.
Meanwhile the travel restrictions now in place in the United States and around the world will likely have an impact on land-based casinos around the world. The U.S. restrictions bar foreigners who 've recently traveled to China from entering the country.
And though Las Vegas has seen Chinese visitation slump over the past year as a result of the trade war, visa restrictions and a slowing Chinese economy, the sweeping travel ban will likely take a toll as well.
In Singapore — where Marina Bay Sands provides as much as a third of EBITDA to Las Vegas Sands — the loss of Chinese tourists will be especially impactful.
The Singapore Ministry of Health reported a patient with confirmed coronavirus had stayed at Marina Bay Sands. Singapore now has 24 confirmed cases. | business |
Scott Gottlieb: Coronavirus will 'likely ' become a pandemic | The coronavirus will likely grow into a pandemic, but it's not too late to prevent the disease from becoming an epidemic in America, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned.
The outbreak of the pneumonia-like disease has already been declared an epidemic in China. A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease, according to the World Health Organization. An epidemic is an often sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in a population in an area, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
`` I think it likely will [ become a pandemic ] at this point. We will have outbreaks here in the United States, '' Gottlieb told CNBC in a special `` Outbreak '' report. `` Now, a small outbreak doesn't need to become a large outbreak, a large outbreak doesn't need to become an epidemic here in the United States. There's things we can do, but we're going to need to change our posture. ''
China's National Health Commission reported 425 deaths and more than 20,400 confirmed cases in China as of Monday evening. The United States has confirmed 11 cases.
`` Right now, the steps we 've been taking is trying to prevent introduction, '' said Gottlieb, a physician who served as FDA commissioner from May 2017 to April 2019. `` We need to work from the assumption that it's already introduced, it's circulating, there's community spread and we want to spot those outbreaks quickly and intervene to keep them small. ''
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned earlier Monday that the world could be `` dangerously '' unprepared for the next pandemic. He pressed the need for member countries to `` invest in preparedness '' as the virus spreads across the globe.
Investors are starting to worry about how the disease could impact global business. Many American corporations have decided to shut down operations in China and ordered employees to work remotely as officials try to contain its spread.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sold off more than 600 points on Friday as those fears grew, though the index recovered some of those losses in Monday's session. | business |
Coronavirus: Princess Cruises quarantines 3,700 after 10 aboard test positive | Carnival's Princess Cruises said it has placed 3,700 passengers and crew under mandatory quarantine for two weeks after 10 people aboard a cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, tested positive for the new coronavirus.
The company said a previous guest, who didn't have any symptoms while aboard the ship, tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday — six days after leaving the Diamond Princess. The ship was being held in Japan for 24 hours while Japanese health authorities assessed the 3,700 passengers and crew on board.
`` These 10 persons, who have been notified, will be taken ashore by Japanese Coast Guard watercraft and transported to local hospitals for care by shoreside Japanese medical professionals, '' the company said.
The ship will be quarantined for at least 14 days, the company said, as is required by the Japanese Ministry of Health.
`` The first phase of health screening of all guests and crew onboard Diamond Princess, by the Japanese Ministry of Health, has been completed, '' the company said in a statement Tuesday. `` We were notified that amongst the samples that have completed testing, 10 people have tested positive for coronavirus. ''
The company confirmed to CNBC that one of the passengers who tested positive for the coronavirus is from the United States. The others are two passengers from Australia, three from Japan and three from Hong Kong and one Filipino crew member.
The company said it will continue to provide guests with complimentary internet and phone service. The ship will go out to sea to `` perform normal marine operations, '' the company said, such as `` the production of fresh water and ballast operations before proceeding alongside in Yokohama where food, provisions, and other supplies will be brought onboard. ''
Princess Cruises said it will cancel its next two cruises leaving from Yokohama, which had been scheduled to depart on Feb. 4 and Feb. 12.
The novel coronavirus has now infected more than 24,300 people in more than two dozen countries, killing 490 people in China as well as one person in the Philippines and one person in Hong Kong. Infectious disease specialists and scientists say the coronavirus that's shuttering companies across mainland China may be even more contagious than current data shows.
World health officials know the respiratory disease is capable of spreading through human-to-human contact, droplets carried through sneezing and coughing, and germs left on inanimate objects. The illness is cable of spreading before symptoms show, and about 20% of patients become severely ill, leading to pneumonia and respiratory failure, health officials say.
The World Health Organization declared the virus a global health emergency last week, a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak. U.S. officials have declared the outbreak a public health emergency, implementing travel restrictions and mandatory federal quarantines.
For up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC's Asia-Pacific team. | business |
What to watch: Dow to soar, delayed caucus results, Trump's big speech | Despite ongoing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. stock futures were pointing sharply higher this morning as stocks continue to chip away at last Friday's losses. Monday's rally put the S & P 500 back into positive territory for 2020, and the projected gain for the Dow at the Tuesday open should do the same. Dow futures are currently projecting a 300+ point gain at the open. The Dow needs about 460 more points to erase that Friday slide. ( CNBC)
The lone economic report out today comes at 10 a.m. ET, when the government issues December factory orders. Though a busy morning for earnings will see the latest numbers from Centene ( CNC), Clorox ( CLX), McKesson ( MCK), Ralph Lauren ( RL), Royal Caribbean ( RCL) and Sirius XM ( SIRI), among others.Dow component Walt Disney ( DIS) grabs the after-the-bell earnings spotlight, with Ford Motor ( F), Aflac ( AFL), Allstate ( ALL), Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG), Gilead Sciences ( GILD), Match Group ( MTCH), Seagate Technology ( STX) and Snap ( SNAP) also among those releasing quarterly numbers. ( CNBC)
Google parent company Alphabet's ( GOOGL) shares slid 3% the premarket despite beating earnings estimates for the fourth quarter, as the company came in light on revenue. The tech giant did break out numbers for its YouTube and cloud businesses for the first time, though the disclosure was limited in scope. ( CNBC) * Google still isn't telling us about a key metric for YouTube and cloud: Profits ( CNBC)
Shares of Tesla ( TSLA) soared nearly 20% in Monday's trading after Argus Research raised its price target and short-sellers scrambled to catch up to the stock. The move was the biggest one-day jump since May, 2013. In Tuesday's premarkets, Tesla stock was trading up nearly 3.4%. ( CNBC)
Results from the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses were delayed until later today as the state's Democratic Party said a `` reporting issue '' caused `` inconsistencies '' in some data. The top 2020 contenders ( including Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren) will now focus on the New Hampshire primary one week from today. ( CNBC) * Buttigieg claims victory in Iowa caucuses, though no results have been released ( CNBC)
President Donald Trump will be unleashing `` relentless optimism '' during his third State of the Union address tonight, a speech designed to pivot from his impeachment to his drive for reelection. The theme of his speech: `` The Great American Comeback. '' ( AP)
The Republican-led Senate is poised to acquit Trump in a vote tomorrow afternoon. Yesterday's closing arguments offered Dems an opportunity to leave the viewing public with two final thoughts: Trump's actions were craven and corrupt, and that Trump still presents a clear danger to both national security and the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. ( CNBC)
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority told CNBC that a 39-year-old man died this morning in the city's first death related to the coronavirus outbreak. This would be the second known death outside of mainland China. Chinese health officials said earlier that in mainland China the total now sits at 425 deaths and 20,438 confirmed cases. * No, garlic won't protect you from coronavirus: WHO pushes back on rampant misinformation ( CNBC) * Coronavirus will likely become a pandemic, warns ex-FDA chief Scott Gottlieb ( CNBC)
Goldman Sachs ( GS) is in talks to offer small business loans to merchants on Amazon's ( AMZN) sprawling e-commerce platform. The deal, if closed, would mark the second tech giant using Goldman as a back-end provider of bank-regulated services. ( CNBC)
The FTC said it plans to sue to block Edgewell's $ 1.37 billion acquisition of shaving start-up Harry's, citing competition concerns in the consumer shaving space. The deal, announced last May, would give Edgewell access to Harry's data and subscription base. For Harry's, it would provide a platform through which to expand beyond its nine factories. ( CNBC)
Influential right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh announced on his program that he has been diagnosed with `` advanced lung cancer. '' Limbaugh, 69, said he will take time off his normal broadcast schedule to seek treatment. Last night, Trump tweeted about Limbaugh's diagnosis, calling the host `` a great guy & fantastic political talent, '' and wishing him `` a speedy recovery. '' ( CNBC)
Sony ( SNE) raised its full-year profit outlook, following a stronger-than-expected quarter. Sony's improved forecast was driven in part by growth in smartphone image sensor sales. However, the company did warn that its global supply chain could be impacted by the spread of the coronavirus.
Sanofi ( SNY) is the target of an investigation regarding the approval and marketing of its epilepsy drug Depakine. The drug is said to cause birth defects and slow development in babies when taken during pregnancy. Sanofi said it will `` prove it has always complied with its duty to inform and been transparent. ''
BP ( BP) reported better-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter, despite a 26% decline from a year ago, and the energy producer also raised its dividend by 2.4%.
Tesla's ( TSLA) joint venture partner Panasonic reported that their automotive battery business was profitable for the first time, and that it was ramping up production to keep up with demand from the automaker.
Activist investor Starboard Value revealed an approximately 9% stake in prepaid debit card issuer Green Dot ( GDOT), according to an SEC filing.
A filmed version of the Tony Award-winning musical `` Hamilton '' will arrive on the big screen next year. Disney was ultimately tapped as the distributor and will bring the filmed version of the Pulitzer and Olivier-winning musical to movie theaters on Oct. 15, 2021. ( CNBC) | business |
Crude bear market: History says oil prices can fall another 10% | WTI crude dipped below $ 50 per barrel on Monday, the first time oil dipped below that level in more than a year. Oil prices are now in bear market territory compared to their previous 52-week highs, and WTI crude has dropped 20% over the past month. Even with an early bump in oil on Tuesday crude settled lower for the day, and don't expect the bearish trend in the commodity to reverse itself soon, according to trading history over the past decade.
According to hedge fund analytics tool Kensho, a month after similar drops, WTI crude tends to shed another 10%. It trades negatively 60% of the time during these periods — across five instances in the past decade — which also have been hard on equities. The S & P 500 has averaged a decline of 1.6% during these one-month trading windows and posts a negative trade 60% of the time.
The trading action in WTI crude and Brent crude through Monday has been rough, as fears of the coronavirus ripple through the global economy, and China, which now represents near-20% of the world's economy, is at risk of seeing slower growth.
WTI hit its lowest settle price since January 2019 and has been negative in nine of the past 10 sessions, settling below its 50-day moving average for the 15th consecutive day. WTI is currently in bear market territory, according to CNBC data, 24.76% off its most recent 52-week high of $ 66.60, hit in April 2019.
Brent had its lowest settle price since December 2018 on Monday and is in bear market territory, 27.98% off its most recent 52-week high, from April 2019. It has been below its 50-day moving average for 10 days in a row.
OPEC and Russia are considering an emergency production cut, but oil is still tanking, and the outlook for prices is getting dimmer.
Citigroup energy analysts cut their price expectations for crude from the high $ 60s for Brent this year to the $ 50s, including an average of $ 54 for the first quarter and $ 50 for the second quarter. They said Brent could touch as low as $ 47. `` The depth of the impact on oil looks much deeper than we initially thought, even with a deeper OPEC+ cut, with Chinese government measures amounting to a major shutdown of the economy, '' the analysts wrote.
`` We're certainly going to take a trip down in the upper $ 40s for a time here, potentially the low $ 40s, but that's as far as I 'll go. We just don't know enough, '' John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital, told CNBC on Monday.
Oil prices were trading in positive territory on Tuesday after the two-week slide.
BP's CFO Brian Gilvary told Reuters on Monday that the economic slowdown brought on by the virus will reduce oil consumption for the whole year by 300,000 to 500,000 barrels per day ( bpd), roughly 0.5% of global demand. He said OPEC cuts through year-end should rebalance the market.
OPEC may face an uphill battle on cuts amid uncertainty over the coronavirus impact.
`` Any changes in supply policy... will be decided on the basis of their assessment of the duration of the impact of the coronavirus, '' BNP Paribas global head of commodity strategy Harry Tchilinguirian told the Reuters Global Oil Forum, adding, `` If the producer group believes the outbreak to be contained with effects tapering out after a short period, like SARS, they have the option to stand pat and weather the lower-price environment until demand returns. '' | business |
Watch: World Health Organization briefs member countries on coronavirus | [ The stream is slated to start at 11:30 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time. ]
The World Health Organization will hold a technical briefing Tuesday to update member countries on the new coronavirus outbreak.
The briefing is part of the WHO's executive board proceedings. The executive board is made up of 34 health experts, each designated by one member state elected by the World Health Assembly, according to the WHO.
The coronavirus has now killed at least 427 people and infected about 20,900 in more than two dozen countries, including in the U.S. The WHO declared the virus a global health emergency last week, a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak.
[ To see the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit CNBC's live updates here. ]
The U.S. government has implemented travel restrictions and issued federal quarantine orders for the first time in about 50 years, health officials said last week. Flights from mainland China are being funneled through 11 U.S. airports, officials said, where all passengers are being screened for symptoms. Travelers from Hubei province are being quarantined for 14 days.
The outbreak is hitting companies as airlines suspend service to China and global companies shutter offices, leading some companies to warn investors that the outbreak could hit their bottom lines. President Donald Trump's economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that the outbreak will delay an expected surge in exports from the phase one U.S.-China trade deal signed last month. | business |
WHO pushes back on coronavirus misinformation and bogus cure claims | Some of the World Health Organization's recent Twitter posts may seem like obvious statements, but amid rapidly spreading misinformation about the new coronavirus, thousands if not millions of people are being exposed to false health warnings and quack treatment methods.
`` There is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from 2019-nCoV, '' the WHO posted on its official Twitter account last week, along with the hashtag # KnowtheFacts.
Fake alerts and posts circulating on social media, often claiming to be from the WHO or a national health ministry, include bogus suggestions that garlic, sesame oil and vitamin C can kill this particular strand of coronavirus, first identified in the city of Wuhan, China in late December.
One alert widely shared in the United Arab Emirates via popular messaging service Whatsapp, falsely attributed to the country's Ministry of Health, warns that the virus will `` invade '' your throat `` within 10 minutes '' if you don't drink enough water. None of these are true, and there is as yet no cure for the deadly virus that's now killed more than 400 people and sickened more than 20,000.
The WHO, which has declared the illness a global health emergency, is warning against misinformation and the harm it can cause.
In Malaysia, five people have been arrested for spreading fake news about the virus — one post shared on Facebook, falsely claiming to be from a government department, showed a fake picture of the virus and read in Malay: `` This is an image of one of many 'Allah's armies ' sent to attack China in the form of coronavirus. This is the actual image of the virus as seen under a very powerful microscope. '' The post was shared more than 700 times.
As the crisis deepens, social media companies and internet giants are taking steps to tackle the misinformation spreading on their platforms.
Google has started displaying information from the WHO about the virus in search results, while its video-sharing platform YouTube is promoting videos on it from credible sources.
`` It's time for facts, not fear, '' tweeted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO. `` We appreciate Google, Facebook, TencentGlobal, TikTok and Twitter's efforts to combat misinformation and rumors on # 2019nCoV & direct users to reliable sources. ''
Facebook, which has come under intense criticism for its handling of misinformation, is the latest to pledge to join the fight against fake content concerning the coronavirus.
The firm will `` remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believe them, '' its head of health, Kang-Xing Jin, said in a blog post Thursday.
`` This includes claims related to false cures or prevention methods — like drinking bleach cures the coronavirus — or claims that create confusion about health resources that are available, '' Jin added.
If you search for `` coronavirus '' on Twitter, you're met with a banner that reads `` Know the facts, '' with links to local official health departments based on the location of the search. The top results of a Facebook search for coronavirus on Tuesday listed posts from Harvard University, NBC News and BBC News.
Still, experts worry that with a reach of billions of people, false information will continue to spread via social media and it may be impossible to control all the content being shared as fear — and often hysteria — over the illness grows. News outlets have already reported on racially-charged misinformation targeting people from China, where the vast majority of confirmed cases and deaths have taken place.
At the time of writing, the Malaysian post claiming that coronavirus came from `` Allah '' to `` attack China '' was still on Facebook.
—CNBC's Ryan Browne contributed to this report. | business |
Sony raises outlook on strong sensor demand, warns of virus risks on supply chain | Sony raised its annual profit outlook on strong sales of smartphone image sensors after reporting a smaller-than-expected decline in quarterly profit, but it warned of an impact from the Wuhan coronavirus on its global supply chain.
Demand for image sensors has been strong enough that even with its plants operating at full capacity Sony has been unable to pile up planned inventories, Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said at an earnings briefing on Tuesday.
But he said sensor shipments could be disrupted if the spread of the coronavirus forces client smartphone makers to suspend their assembly plants in China for a prolonged period.
The virus outbreak could also rattle supply chains for its PlayStation gaming hardware and other consumer electronics, he said.
`` We can't deny the possibility of the virus threat expanding to a scale large enough to wipe out our latest upward earnings revision, '' Totoki said.
The Japanese entertainment and electronics firm raised its annual operating profit forecast by 5% to 880 billion yen ( $ 8.1 billion), roughly in line with the 878.47 billion yen consensus of 22 analysts compiled by Refinitiv.
For the October-December quarter, profit dropped 20% to 300.1 billion yen, still beating the 271.07 billion yen average analyst estimate. Excluding an accounting gain linked to the acquisition of music publisher EMI and that boosted profit a year earlier, the latest quarter marked a profit increase.
Sony's sensor business continued to thrive as smartphone makers compete to adopt larger image sensors and multiple lenses on embedded cameras for improved picture quality, driving quarterly profit at the business by 62% to 75.2 billion yen.
The Japanese firm controls about half of the world's image sensor market, supplying most global smartphone makers including Apple and Huawei Technologies.
To reduce dependence on smartphones, Sony has been working on sensors for automotive applications.
Meanwhile, Sony's gaming business saw profit fall 27% to 53.5 billion yen as sales of its six-year-old PlayStation 4 console continued to decline.
The firm has said the PlayStation 5, scheduled for release this year, will feature better graphics, advanced haptic controllers and other improvements.
Sony's share price has shot up more than 40% over the past year to its highest in nearly two decades — a vote of confidence for Chief Executive Kenichiro Yoshida's ability to retain momentum after a corporate turnaround led by his predecessor. | business |
Wuhan coronavirus outbreak is not yet a pandemic, WHO says | The agency acknowledges that it is challenging to contain the virus because of global mass movement.
`` We are not in a pandemic, '' Dr. Sylvie Briand, director of the World Health Organization's Infectious Hazards Management Department said in a press conference on Tuesday, explaining that the virus is currently considered to be an epidemic with multiple locations.
`` We will try to extinguish the transmission in each of these, '' she said, adding that the agency believes this `` can be done with containment measures currently in place. ''
Current control measures in place include early case detection, early isolation and treatment of cases, contact tracing and social detention measures in places where there is risk of transmission, Briand said. These are the core elements of any outbreak response and might be enough to stop an infection from spreading.
A pandemic is define as the worldwide spread of a new disease, but it's not quite as simple as that. The finer details are debated as many factors, including population immunity and disease severity, need to be taken into account.
An epidemic is more than a normal number cases of an illness, specific health-related behavior or other health-related events in a community or region. A disease outbreak is the occurrence of disease cases in excess of what's normally expected, according to WHO.
The last pandemic reported was the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, which killed hundreds of thousand worldwide.
WHO last week declared the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern, which it calls `` an extraordinary event '' that constitutes a `` public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease '' and `` to potentially require a coordinated international response. ''
Previous emergencies have included Ebola, Zika and H1N1.
The new virus has infected more than 20,000 people across 26 countries and territories and killed more than 420, but the majority of cases -- currently an estimated 78% -- are coming from Hubei province in China, Briand explained.
`` This is the epicentre of the outbreak, '' she said during Tuesday's press conference.
Briand described cases outside of Hubei as `` spillover cases '' -- people who were mostly infected in Hubei before there was a lockdown there and moved to other places with the disease, causing clusters of cases in other regions. The same can be said of the cases reported in other countries.
Briand believes that in Hubei and places that have spillover, `` we can stop transmission, '' which will prevent the situation from becoming a pandemic.
Many experts believe we 've not yet reached pandemic levels, due to the current spread of the outbreak but also because we don't yet know enough about the coronavirus.
`` The virus has traveled across multiple continents, but these instances of long-range travel seem to have only resulted in very focal outbreaks, '' Paul Digard, chair of virology of The Roslin Institute at University of Edinburgh, said in an email. `` Unless/until it has been shown to have set up widespread onward transmission chains in other countries, I think it's reasonable to remain calling it an outbreak. ''
A pandemic `` typically refers to sustained transmission of a new infectious disease across numerous countries, '' added Dr. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at University of Southampton. `` Here, we have the coronavirus that has been imported into numerous countries, and we have seen some very limited amount of human transmission outside of China, but not really enough yet for the World Health Organisation to declare a pandemic. ''
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in the United States, believes we could be heading toward a pandemic.
`` My bottom line is the way this is continuing to evolve every day, it looks like it's heading towards what we would call a pandemic, '' Fauci said.
But Fauci also said the term itself comes down to semantics -- it `` means different things to different people, '' and that we're in a `` gray zone. '' | business |
BP earnings q4 2019 | Energy giant BP reported better-than-expected full-year net profit on Tuesday, outperforming analyst expectations despite lower oil and gas prices.
The U.K.-based oil and gas company posted full-year underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $ 10 billion in 2019. That compared with $ 12.7 billion full-year net profit in 2018, reflecting a year-on-year fall of 21%.
Analysts had expected full-year net profit to come in at $ 9.7 billion in 2019, according to data from Refinitiv.
Shares of BP were up more than 4%.
`` BP is performing well, with safe and reliable operations, continued strategic progress and strong cash delivery, '' Bob Dudley, CEO of BP, said in a statement.
`` After almost ten years, this is now my last quarter as CEO. In that time, we have achieved a huge amount together and I am proud to be handing over a safer and stronger BP to Bernard and his team. ''
`` I am confident that under their leadership, BP will continue to successfully navigate the rapidly-changing energy landscape, '' Dudley said.
Bernard Looney, who has run BP's upstream business since April 2016 and has been a member of the firm's executive management team since November 2010, is now set to take the reins from the outgoing chief executive.
In October, Dudley announced he would step down as CEO on Feb. 4., having held the position for almost a decade. The 64-year-old plans to retire on March 31, thus bringing an end to his 40-year career with BP.
Here are the key highlights:
The energy giant's full-year results follow disappointing earnings from oil and gas companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell reported a sharp fall in full-year net profit late last week, while U.S. rivals Chevron and Exxon Mobil both missed analyst expectations on Friday.
France's Total is scheduled to report its latest quarterly earnings on Feb. 6.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $ 54.74 Tuesday lunchtime, up more than 0.5%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) stood at $ 50.75, around 1.2% higher.
Both crude benchmarks have each fallen around 20% since climbing to a peak in early January, dragged lower by concern over demand in China after the coronavirus outbreak.
Brian Gilvary, chief financial officer at BP, told CNBC's `` Squawk Box Europe '' on Tuesday that the coronavirus outbreak could wipe out as much as 300,000 to 500,000 barrels per day ( bpd) of oil demand in 2020.
The International Energy Agency ( IEA) has previously said it expects oil demand to grow by 1.2 million bpd this year, so a reduction of up to 500,000 bpd would leave demand growth `` healthy '' at 700,000 to 800,000 bpd, Gilvary said.
`` I think, in terms of price direction, all roads will then lead to what OPEC will do in terms of trying to rebalance the system to get back to something around $ 60 to $ 65 a barrel, '' he added.
OPEC and its allies are considering cutting their oil output by a further 500,000 bpd this year, two OPEC sources and a third industry source familiar with discussions told Reuters on Monday.
A ministerial meeting currently scheduled for early March could be brought forward to mid-February, one of the OPEC sources said, with February 14-15 touted as possible dates. | business |
Coronavirus could delay China 5G rollout | The coronavirus outbreak could slow down China's deployment of 5G networks, analysts warned, potentially denting the progress of one of President Xi Jinping's national priorities.
5G refers to next generation mobile networks offering super-fast data speeds with the promise of being able to underpin other technologies like driverless cars. It is seen as a critical part of infrastructure in countries and could support further economic development.
In November, China turned on its 5G networks ahead of schedule. 5G is a national priority for China as it looks to boost its credentials in core technology from software to semiconductors.
But with the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which originated in China and has claimed the lives of over 400 people, the deployment could be delayed, according to analysts at China Renaissance.
`` The 5G base station installations in multiple cities in China may be impacted by the virus, in our view, which could be a drag on China's 5G deployment, '' the financial services firm said in a note published Monday.
`` We expect the extended Chinese New Year holiday and a series of quarantine measures to cause delays to the 5G base station installations on towers. ''
China extended the Lunar New Year holiday with many companies telling employees to stay home.
Vinod Nair, a senior partner at Delta Partners, an advisory and investment firm specialized in the telecoms, media and tech sectors, said that production of equipment is less likely to be an issue. Instead, having employees remain at home could reduce the amount of people physically able to put up infrastructure in China.
`` Coronoavirus impacts the supply chain and it specifically impacts labor intensive services like network deployment, '' Nair told CNBC.
5G has become a highly politicized issued between the U.S. and China. Washington has sought to get China's Huawei, the world's largest telecoms equipment maker, banned from as many markets as possible around the world. The U.S. maintains that Huawei represents a national security risk because its gear could be used by Beijing to spy on Americans. Huawei has repeatedly denied this allegation.
Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the `` race to 5G is on and America must win. ''
U.S. mobile carriers such as Verizon and AT & T have already begun rolling out their 5G networks across the country. | business |
Coronavirus: WHO on the lessons learned from the SARS epidemic | The `` most important '' way to stop the spread of China's coronavirus is to wash your hands, according to the professor who headed the World Health Organization's ( WHO) global response to SARS.
China's National Health Commission on Tuesday confirmed 20,438 cases of the coronavirus in the country and 425 deaths.
The outbreak of the deadly pneumonia-like virus, which is thought to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has been recognized as a global health emergency by the WHO.
As of Monday, there were thought to be nearly 200 cases of the virus in at least 23 countries outside of China.
`` One of the most important ways of stopping respiratory outbreaks such as this is washing hands, '' David Heymann, who led WHO's infectious disease unit at the time of the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003, said at a Chatham House press briefing in London on Tuesday.
That's because `` if you touch a patient, if you shake hands, if you touch a door that has a droplet on it — which could theoretically happen — then you touch your face ( or) your mouth and you become infected. ''
`` So, handwashing is the most important. And second is, people who are suspected as being patients, be very careful when you are dealing with them. Avoid face-to-face contact and wash hands when you're treating, '' Heymann said.
`` It is very important that people understand that they can prevent themselves from being infected if they follow a few simple measures, '' he added.
Late last month, health experts told CNBC that the panic buying of face masks to protect against the coronavirus was `` completely understandable, '' but ultimately unwarranted.
They also warned a shortage of masks could pose a risk to health workers.
It was thought wearing masks might be useful if you're sick in order to prevent you from sneezing or coughing into somebody's face, Heymann said.
But, `` a mask that is used to stop getting an infection is sometimes not very effective because people take it off to eat, many times they are worn improperly ( and) if they get wet and somebody sneezes on that mask it could pass through. So, there is really not a lot of evidence ( to support wearing masks). ''
`` I would think that there is way too much wearing of masks although some places like Hong Kong have required that people on the underground use masks — and that is their sovereign right to do that. That is their risk assessment, '' he added.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that usually infect animals but can sometimes evolve and spread to humans.
Symptoms for people tend to include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, which can progress to pneumonia. Physicians have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of SARS, which had a short incubation period of two to seven days.
During the period of infection for SARS ( 2002-2003), there were nearly 8,098 reported cases and 774 deaths, according to the WHO. It means the virus killed roughly one in 10 people who were infected.
Heymann's comments come at a time when the WHO has repeatedly warned against rampant misinformation about the virus online.
At least 16 people have been arrested over online posts relating to the coronavirus in Malaysia, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong, Reuters reported Tuesday.
`` It is time for facts, not fear, '' WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said via Twitter on Saturday.
`` We appreciate Google, Facebook, TencentGlobal, TikTok and Twitter's efforts to combat misinformation and rumors on # 2019nCoV & direct users to reliable sources, '' he added. | business |
Coronavirus updates: Hubei confirms 3,156 new cases, cruise ship quarantined | The coverage on this live blog has ended — but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC's Asia-Pacific team.
Total cases: About 20,900 as of Tuesday morning.Total deaths: At least 427 worldwide as of Tuesday morning.
Princess Cruises said ten passengers aboard a cruise ship that was docked in Japan have tested positive for the virus, and it has placed all 3,700 passengers and crew under mandatory quarantine on the ship in Yokohama. `` These 10 persons, who have been notified, will be taken ashore by Japanese Coast Guard watercraft and transported to local hospitals for care by shoreside Japanese medical professionals, '' the company said.
United Airlines on Tuesday said it will suspend Hong Kong service, days after it cut its mainland China flights. The Chicago-based carrier said demand had dropped for the routes. The suspension begins Feb. 8 and will last until Feb. 20 but more changes are possible, the company said.
The Hubei Provincial Health Committee confirmed 3,156 new cases and an additional 65 deaths in the province overnight. The committee said that brings the total confirmed cases in the province to 16,678 and the death toll to 479 in the province. Wuhan, China is the capital city of Hubei province and the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
Disney said it is expecting to take a $ 175 million hit from the recent coronavirus outbreak if its Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney parks remain closed for two months. Christine McCarthy, chief financial officer at Disney, said the company expects an impact of $ 135 million on second-quarter operating income from the Shanghai park and about $ 40 million from the closure of the Hong Kong park.
Nike has closed half of its stores in China, saying the outbreak will have a `` material impact '' on its operations there. `` This situation was not contemplated at the time we provided Q3 guidance during our Q2 fiscal year 2020 earnings call, '' the company said in a statement. `` Dynamics continue to evolve and accordingly we will provide an update on the operational and financial impacts on our Q3 earnings call. ''
Clorox, which makes cleaning products for both home and hospital use, is making more of its bleach products in case there's more customer demand amid the outbreak, CFO Kevin Jacobsen told analysts. However, officials from the World Health Organization said on a call earlier Tuesday that there was currently no evidence that bleach worked to protect against the virus. Other companies have said they 'll make more of their products that could be in demand during the outbreak, including 3M upping production of respiratory masks.
Infectious disease specialists and scientists say the new virus may be more contagious than current data shows. Emerging in Wuhan, China about a month ago, the virus has spread from about 300 people as of Jan. 21 to close to 21,000, killing more than 420. Data on the virus is changing by the day, and some infectious disease specialists say it will take weeks before they can see just how contagious it is. What they're seeing so far is concerning and leading U.S. and international scientists to believe the virus is more contagious than the current data shows, according to interviews with epidemiologists, scientists and infectious disease specialists.
Former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said the coronavirus poses a risk to the global economy. The coronavirus is definitely `` a potential influence on the global economy, '' Yellen said, adding that it seems certain to have a significant effect at least a quarter or two on Chinese growth. And because China is such a significant player in the global economy, there's bound to be `` spillovers. '' Yellen and David Malpass, president of the World Bank, were questioned on a panel by Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal in Washington, DC. Malpass also sees the epidemic as a disruption to the global supply chain, saying that airlines ' decision to halt flights to China is not only stopping people from traveling, but also blocking goods from being transported on those same flights.
Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman, which makes K'nex and Lincoln Logs, said his company, as well as others in the toy industry, brought extra toys to the U.S. at the end of 2019 in order to get `` under the wire '' of future tariffs that were expected to be imposed by President Donald Trump. About 90% of Basic Fun's production is in China, where there the government has implemented travel restrictions and issued orders in some cities to keep businesses closed due to the outbreak. `` If there's a delay of two, four, six weeks in getting the flow going again, we should be able to cover that, '' Foreman said. `` The real challenge is if this starts to creep into April, May and June. Then it's going to to really be a disruption. ''
The World Health Organization held a technical briefing at 11:30 a.m. ET to update member countries on the new coronavirus outbreak. The briefing is part of the WHO's executive board proceedings. The executive board is made up of 34 health experts, each designated by one member state elected by the World Health Assembly, according to the WHO. Watch the briefing here.
The extended factory shutdown in China is costing automakers that have idled plants as the government grapples with a worsening virus outbreak that has already claimed more than 420 lives. Automotive research firm IHS Markit expects automakers to lose about 350,000 units of vehicle production in the first quarter as local Chinese governments keep plants closed to keep the new coronavirus from spreading. If the plants remain closed until mid-March, as some industry analysts have speculated, IHS forecasts lost production of more than 1.7 million units for the first quarter a roughly 32.3% decline from its initial expectations before the virus emerged.
Johns Hopkins senior scholar Dr. Amesh Adalja said the new coronavirus will likely cause annual outbreaks, with most of the cases being mild. He expects the current outbreak to turn into a mild pandemic and spread further in the U.S. `` It's going to become a part of our seasonal respiratory virus family that causes disease, '' Adalja said on CNBC's `` Squawk Box. ''
Royal Caribbean Cruises said it expects to take an earnings hit of 25 cents per share after canceling eight cruises out of China and changing other itineraries in the region because of the outbreak. The cruise line also implemented multiple measures to protect passengers against the illness. Boarding will be denied to anyone who has traveled through mainland China or Hong Kong in the past 15 days. Mandatory health screenings will also be performed on guests who have a China or Hong Kong passport.
Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the coronavirus will delay an expected surge in exports from the first phase of the U.S.-China trade deal signed last month. Kudlow added that the Trump administration, which has imposed travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines, still expects `` minimal impact '' from the fast-spreading disease. `` It is true the trade deal, the phase one trade deal, the export boom from that trade deal, will take longer because of the Chinese virus. That is true, '' Kudlow told Fox Business Network.
Companies exposed to the global economy that have reported earnings have seen their estimates for the first quarter reduced. That's particularly true for transport companies like FedEx, industrials including Stanley Black & Decker and General Electric and energy companies, including Schlumberger, Hess and Marathon Petroleum. Much of the cuts — but not all — are on coronavirus fears.
American Airlines said it has suspended its Hong Kong service to and from Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles through Feb. 20 because of a drop in demand as the coronavirus spreads. The union that represents some 15,000 American Airlines pilots sued the carrier last week to end China flights, including service to Hong Kong. American last week suspended its mainland China flights through March 27 but intended to continue flying to Hong Kong. Delta and United took similar steps.
The `` most important '' way to stop the spread of China's coronavirus is to wash your hands, according to the professor who headed the World Health Organization's global response to SARS. `` One of the most important ways of stopping respiratory outbreaks such as this is washing hands, '' David Heymann, who led WHO's infectious disease unit at the time of the 2003 SARS epidemic, said at a Chatham House press briefing in London. That's because `` if you touch a patient, if you shake hands, if you touch a door that has a droplet on it — which could theoretically happen — then you touch your face ( or) your mouth and you become infected. ''
The Civil Aviation Administration of China told domestic airlines that when they cancel a portion of flights due to falling market demand, they need to ensure they continue to operate to countries where flights are allowed, unless the country has placed restrictions. That's according to an online post from the administration's official news service midday Tuesday.
The fatality rate in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, `` should gradually decline, '' Jiao Yahui, deputy director of the medical affairs and hospital administration of the National Health Commission, said Tuesday at a daily press conference in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation. Jiao pointed out that 74% of coronavirus deaths, or 313, are in Wuhan, where there is a case-fatality rate of 4.9%. That's primarily due to lack of hospital beds in the early days of the virus ' spread, she said. At that time, she said the city had only three designated hospitals with 110 beds for the critically ill.
Macao, the world's biggest gambling hub, has asked all casino operators to suspend operations for two weeks to help curb the spread of the virus. The announcement by Macao's chief executive Ho Iat Seng came as the former Portuguese colony reported at least 10 confirmed cases of the virus and tight restrictions on movements in and out of the Chinese territory. Residents have been instructed to wear masks when traveling around the city and been advised to stay home as much as possible.
The World Health Organization is warning against rapidly spreading misinformation about the new coronavirus. Fake alerts and posts circulating on social media, often claiming to be from the WHO or a national health ministry, include bogus suggestions that garlic, sesame oil and vitamin C can cure this strain of the coronavirus. The WHO as well as social media companies and internet giants are taking steps to tackle the misinformation.
All times above are in Eastern time.
Read CNBC's coverage from our Europe and Asia-Pacific teams overnight: Hong Kong reports first death as mainland China cases cross 20,000
-- Reuters and CNBC's Elliot Smith, Saheli Roy Choudhury, Evelyn Cheng and Christine Wang contributed to this report. | business |
Dow soars more than 400 points, Tesla surge leads Nasdaq to all-time high | Stocks rallied on Tuesday, building on solid gains from the previous session as the market recovers from a steep sell-off that was sparked by worries over the coronavirus.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 407.82 points higher, or 1.4%, at 28,807.63. The S & P 500 gained 1.5% to end at 3,297.59 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.1% to a record of 9,467.97. The tech-heavy benchmark became the first of the major indexes to come back completely from the coronavirus-related fears.
Stocks that have been hit by fears of the coronavirus slowing the economy bounced on Tuesday. Apple jumped 3.3%. Nvidia and Micron rose more than 2.5% each. Companies directly impacted by the coronavirus, including Carnival, which confirmed on Monday that a former cruise-line passenger tested positive for the virus, rose. Carnival added 1.9%. American and United were both up by more than 5%.
Tesla, meanwhile, powered the Nasdaq with a surge of more than 13% that lifted the stock above $ 900 for the first time. That rally follows Tesla's best day in six years. Billionaire investor Ron Baron, a longtime Tesla bull, said Tuesday that Tesla could see revenues of $ 1 trillion in 10 years. Tesla, however, gave back a chunk of its gains in the final minutes of trading. At its high of the day, Tesla had surged more than 24%.
Microsoft and Caterpillar both rose around 3% to contribute to the gains. The S & P 500 tech sector surged 2.6%, led higher by Apple.
The Dow fell 603 points, or 2.1% on Friday. On Monday, the average bounced back by 144 points, or 0.5%.
Tuesday's continued bounce comes after a Reuters report said China's central bank could cut its key lending rate as well as banks ' reserve requirement ratios ( RRRs) in the coming weeks to support economic growth. The report came a day after the People's Bank of China unveiled liquidity injection measures to the tune of more than 1 trillion yuan. The PBOC also injected another 400 billion yuan in liquidity.
`` The balance between deleveraging and growth is likely to be tilted towards stimulus in order to make up ground lost due to the virus and quarantine, '' said Larry Brainard, chairman for emerging markets at TS Lombard, in a note. `` With Q1/20 GDP likely to fall sharply, we expect Beijing to respond aggressively with fiscal and monetary stimulus to get growth on track in Q2/20. This will generate a V-shaped recovery, led by the industrial sector. ''
Chinese stocks jumped sharply overnight after a massive slump on Monday. The Shanghai Composite closed 1.3% higher while the Shenzhen A Shares index gained 1.8%. Other equity indexes in the region, including Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the Korean Kospi, also posted strong gains.
That positive sentiment spilled over into European equity markets. The Stoxx 600 index gained 1.6%. Meanwhile, the German Dax climbed 1.8% along with the French CAC 40.
Markets were higher despite a climbing death toll from the coronavirus and despite disappointing earnings from Alphabet after the bell Monday.
As of Monday night, the virus death toll had reached 426 with 20,679 confirmed cases in China. Yet, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic on Monday said his outlook for the U.S. economy was unmoved by the virus. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow also doesn't think the outbreak is not a `` disaster for the U.S. economy.
`` The fear last week was that the outbreak was happening at a time when the economic data was shaky at best, '' said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. He noted a dismal Chicago PMI release on Friday soured investor sentiment. However, the data released this week — including manufacturing activity and factory orders — show signs of stabilization.
—CNBC's Elliot Smith and John Melloy contributed to this report. | business |
Op-Ed: Saudi newspaper article suggests abandoning the Hadi government | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Saudi newspaper article argues that Hadi government is a burden
The whole point of the Saudi operation was to reinstate the Hadi government. The Houthi rebels, supported by Iran rule much of the north including the capital Sanaa. The Hadi government’ s temporary capital is in the southern Yemen port of Aden but much of the leadership remains in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
No one previously had raised the issue of supporting a government which probably has limited support within the country. The was has been costly to the Saudis both in material terms and in international condemnation for its air attacks that have killed many Yemeni civilians. The Saudis have been unable to defeat the Houthis, have faced attacks on their own territory and lately have suffered casualties.
An article in the Saudi newspaper Okaz by Hammoud Taleb has brought up the subject of Saudi support for Hadi for the first time. Okaz asks whether everyone would be better off if the Hadi government were replaced. No one even pointed out that Hadi’ s electoral mandate had run out years ago.
The Saudi government would be unlikely to allow such an article without tacitly approving it. Taleb must have felt safe in attaching his name to the article.
Taleb argues that the Hadi government is a burden both on Yemen and the Saudi invading coalition that includes the UAE. Taleb says that “ it is absurd to rely on its members, who are distributed between capitals, and conspire against the alliance from inside their luxury hotels. ” Much of the Hadi leadership remains in Saudi Arabia and some work within rival factions. The article could be a test balloon by the Saudi government. It shows at least, that such a move might be under consideration.
The Saudis may be losing patience with the Hadi government The Saudi’ s are not allowing some members of the Hadi government out of Riyadh where they are in exile. Some have even described Hadi himself as effectively under house arrest at times. No doubt the Saudis are angry that the Hadi government has undermined attempts at negotiation. In particular the Hadi government baulked at having southern separatists become part of the Hadi government after the Saudis made a deal with their coalition partner the UAE and the Southern Transitional Council ( STC).
The UAE had supported the STC in seizing the port of Aden and some surrounding areas last October. This put the UAE in conflict with the Saudis. However, a deal was worked out by the Saudis to give the STC seats in the cabinet of the Hadi government. All armed forces would be placed under government control. However. the Hadi government strongly resisted an attempt to have the STC and others join the government. The STC wants a separate independent state in the south as existed once before but the Hadi government wants a unified Yemen.
A possible scenario
The Saudis have already settled with the STC. The Saudis may be able to negotiate with the Houthi’ s to leave them in control of the northern part of Yemen with the STC along with some members of the Hadi government to take control of the southern remainder of Yemen. Those members of the Hadi government which did not accede to such a solution would be left virtually powerless. The UAE could very well be involved in such a settlement. It remains to be seen whether the Houthis would agree to such a solution but they are dependent to some extent on the support of Iran and Iran may see such an agreement as lowering tensions in the region. The Saudis may find this plan better than continuing in a so far fruitless attempt to reinstall a dubious ruler..
There is no stated power in the US Constitution to regulate human reproduction.
A small dog looking at a christmas tree which has colored lights. Source - Trogain, CC SA 4.0.If you are having trouble finding a...
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
We now know government COVID-19 policy should not be based on meteorological conditions
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The Impact of Coronavirus for Investors | And what we're doing with our portfolios: Morningstar Investment Management.
Carolyn Szaflik is a portfolio specialist for MIM LLC.
Public health outbreaks and epidemics like the recent coronavirus can quickly scare investors and, eventually, affect economies and businesses. The recent coronavirus outbreak has shut down airports, halted trade, and led to the rapid construction of new hospitals in China. The effects of the outbreak may push China's economy into a period of slower growth, with stocks trading lower as investors seek protection. | business |
Disney to take $ 175 million hit from the coronavirus outbreak | Disney said it is expecting to take a $ 175 million hit from the recent coronavirus outbreak if its Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney parks remain closed for two months.
`` The current closure is taking place during the quarter in which we typically see strong attendance and occupancy levels due to the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday, '' Christine McCarthy, chief financial officer at Disney, said during an earnings call Tuesday. `` The precise magnitude of the financial impact is highly dependent on the duration of the closures and how quickly we can resume normal operations. ''
McCarthy said the company expects an impact of $ 135 million on second-quarter operating income from the Shanghai park and about $ 40 million from the closure of the Hong Kong park.
The company had already disclosed that its Hong Kong park had been underperforming due to protests in the region. Between coronavirus and the unrest in Hong Kong, operating income at the park is expected to decline by $ 145 million in the second quarter.
Last quarter, operating income in the Hong Kong park declined by $ 55 million.
Domestically, the company doesn't expect traffic at its U.S.-based parks to be impacted by lower visitation of guests from Asia.
McCarthy said that the Asian market is not as prevalent in terms of visitation to the domestic parks compared to countries like Canada, Mexico, Austrailia and the United Kingdom.
Lower results at its international parks and resorts hurt its fiscal first quarter performance, but was offset by strong growth at its domestic business. In the U.S., the opening of new parks and attractions, including the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge lands and the Rise of the Resistance ride, provided a boost.
Revenue at Disney's Parks, Experience and Products segment rose 8% from the prior year to $ 7.4 billion, while operating income increased 9% to $ 2.3 billion.
Iger said on the call that Rise of the Resistance has `` done extremely well '' in terms of attendance and higher guest spending.
—CNBC's Annie Palmer contributed to this report. | business |
No Changes to Healthcare Stocks Amid Coronavirus | We don't assume any significant long-term financial impact from the outbreak.
We're not making any changes to our fair value estimates within our healthcare coverage as a result of the novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV) outbreak. As scientists and physicians grapple with finding treatments or vaccines, investors have been eager to find firms that have the most promising technologies for containing the spread of the virus and helping currently infected patients recover. For example, shares of Gilead rose significantly on Monday as investors processed the news that the first confirmed U.S. case of 2019-nCoV appears to have responded to Gilead's investigational Ebola virus treatment remdesivir.
However, with a placebo-controlled trial of remdesivir just beginning in China and other potentially generic treatment options also being tested, we're not making any changes to our Gilead fair value estimate at this time. Beyond Gilead, other names in our coverage -- like Roche, whose diagnostics arm has a coronavirus assay available for research use but not yet approved -- could see some tailwinds as need for diagnostics rises. Medical supplies ( preventive products like masks and soaps and commodity hospital supplies like saline solutions) could also see increased short-term demand. However, we don't assume any significant long-term financial impact from the outbreak.
Unless 2019-nCoV has staying power, most of these sales tend to reverse in the following year, limiting the impact of any valuation effect. Additionally, most of the supplies used to prevent the spread of viruses tend to be commodity-like products, so there is more limited ability for firms to retain excess profits, especially over the long term.
Karen Andersen does not own shares in any of the securities mentioned above. Find out about Morningstar’ s editorial policies. | business |
Oil drops 1% to settle below $ 50 for first time in more than a year | Oil prices moved lower Tuesday as fears that energy demand would take a long-term hit from the coronavirus outbreak offset prospects for more cuts in crude production from OPEC and its allies.
Brent crude lost 44 cents to trade at $ 54.01 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude shed 1% to settle at $ 49.61 per barrel.
`` I think the market is still concerned that it doesn't know the full demand destruction from the coronavirus, '' said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.
Oil slid sharply over the past two weeks on concerns over the global economic impact of China's coronavirus. In early trading, it bounced higher on the prospect of further output cuts from OPEC+, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia.
An OPEC+ committee weighed the impact on global oil demand and economic growth of the outbreak of the coronavirus at a meeting, hearing from China's envoy to the United Nations in Vienna and discussing how to respond.
Sources close to the matter told Reuters that OPEC+ was considering cutting crude output by a further 500,000 barrels per day ( bpd).
However, the producer group could face an uphill battle to put more cuts in place so soon after the existing pact was agreed to and because of uncertainty over how long the virus crisis will last.
`` If the producer group believes the outbreak to be contained, with effects tapering out after a short period, like SARS, they have the option to stand pat and weather the lower price environment until demand returns, '' the global head of commodity strategy at BNP Paribas, Harry Tchilinguirian, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.
Price gains were also limited by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak's comments that he was uncertain it was time to tighten oil output curbs.
BP finance chief Brian Gilvary told Reuters the economic impact of the virus will reduce oil consumption for the whole year by 300,000 to 500,000 bpd, roughly 0.5% of global demand.
Goldman Sachs warned that the outbreak's impact on demand is likely to keep spot-price volatility elevated.
`` Oil prices are now at levels where we would expect a supply response from both OPEC and shale producers, and where China would likely seek to build crude inventories, '' Goldman said in a note. | business |
5 things to know before the stock market opens January 4, 2020 | U.S. stock futures were pointing to a nearly 400 point gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average at Wall Street's open Tuesday. The Dow had been up 350 points at one stage on Monday but closed 143 points higher. Tuesday's indicated gains coupled with Monday's advance would put a major dent in the Dow's 603-point slide from Friday. Tesla jumped another 15% in Tuesday's premarket, and it is set to open on Wall Street at a new record high. Major shareholder Ron Baron forecast the company would top $ 1 trillion in revenue in a decade. As investors who bet against the stock scrambled to catch up, Tesla climbed nearly 20% on Monday to $ 780. Investors are still watching coronavirus developments as well as awaiting delayed Iowa caucus results, President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night, and the Senate impeachment trial vote Wednesday.
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet were falling about 3% in the premarket after the tech giant beat estimates with quarterly earnings but fell short on revenue. Alphabet broke out YouTube and cloud revenue for the first time. YouTube ads generated $ 15.15 billion in revenue in 2019, with $ 4.72 billion in the fourth quarter. Google's cloud business generated $ 8.92 billion in revenue in 2019, with $ 2.61 billion in Q4. This was the first earnings report since co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced in December they were stepping away from day-to-day operations.
Disney reports fiscal first quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday. Analysts expect the media giant to deliver per-share profit of $ 1.46 on revenue of $ 20.78 billion. The results from Q1, which ended in December, include the launch of Disney's streaming platform Disney+, which competes with platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. Disney signed up 10 million subscribers on its first day. Investors will be looking for any guidance on how the coronavirus might impact earnings going forward, with Shanghai Disney temporarily closing as of late last month and many dark movie theaters in China.
Chinese health officials said 425 deaths and 20,438 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the country. Hong Kong's Hospital Authority told CNBC that a 39-year-old man had died in the city's first coronavirus-related death. Singapore and Thailand each reported six new cases of coronavirus Tuesday. While many countries confirm their own cases, the vast majority are still in China. The Philippines on Sunday reported the first death outside China.
Democratic results from the Iowa caucuses, the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest, were delayed Monday night. The state's Democratic Party said a `` reporting issue '' caused `` inconsistencies '' in some data. A source told NBC News that technical glitches hit an app for reporting results and a backup phone line for relaying information was `` a disaster. '' The contest was too early to call, according to NBC News. However, that didn't stop ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg from claiming victory. The next nominating contest is a week from Tuesday: the New Hampshire primary. | business |
Coronavirus: At least one person turned away at US border as travel restrictions implemented | In the wake of Trump's proclamation, the US has started denying entry to foreign nationals who visited China in the 14 days prior to their arrival to the US. It's not clear whether anyone else has been turned back as part of the restrictions that began at 5 p.m. ET Sunday.
`` We're just beginning, today, to see results of implementation, '' said Cuccinelli, who serves on the President's coronavirus task force.
Airlines are responsible for stopping passengers who will be denied entry into the US before they get on planes, and DHS worked with the airlines throughout the weekend and collected feedback to make it `` more operationally feasible for them, '' Cuccinelli said. `` We recognize these are burdens on the airlines, as they are on other people as well. But we want to make it work as effectively as we can. ''
The President, Cuccinelli said, based his decision on task force advice to implement certain measures to restrict travel of non-Americans who are most likely to have come in contact with coronavirus.
`` The President made very clear his top priority is the safety of the American people, but that doesn't mean a complete shutdown, '' he said.
As a practical matter, planes in the air at 5 p.m. ET were treated under pre-5 p.m. ET rules, Cuccinelli said, adding that they `` didn't want to be rerouting planes '' and they `` wanted that all to work smoothly and above all safely without breaking the system. ''
Two key determinations
US citizens and others who are allowed to travel to the US from China are being funneled to 11 airports where US authorities will conduct extra screening and transfer people for quarantine if needed.
All flights from China will go to those airports, and passengers who have been to China in the past 14 days and weren't already traveling to one of those airports will be required to rebook their flights.
The `` vast majority '' of flights coming from China already arrive at those airports, Cuccinelli said.
DHS has the statutory authority to limit the locations where all flights entering the US from abroad may land. And the Transportation Security Administration, under DHS, has required air carriers to enforce the President's proclamation that limits who is allowed to board commercial flights headed for the US.
When passengers arrive at the 11 airports, Customs and Border Protection officers make two key determinations: whether a traveler is admissible to the US and if someone needs extra screening or quarantine.
If Customs and Border Protection determines extra screening is needed, travelers are sent for a secondary screening. By the end of the week, Cuccinelli said, he expects medical professionals at the airport secondary screening to be entirely staffed from DHS contracts. Coast Guard personnel are also doing the work at some airports.
Cuccinelli said the `` very small number of people who have either traveled to Hubei province or show symptoms '' will go to a third screening. At that point, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would get involved to connect people with local authorities and possible quarantine.
`` These are going to be extremely small numbers, '' he said. `` We're just seeing fewer and fewer travelers from Hubei. ''
At sea, the Coast Guard is responsible for enforcing the travel restrictions, and it held a ship offshore in Puget Sound until passengers had exceeded the 14-day requirement and did not show symptoms. | business |
Quarantined Chinese footballers forced to train in Brisbane hotel corridor | The Chinese women’ s football team have been forced to train in hotel corridors ahead of their Olympic qualifying opener in Sydney on Friday. The team has been in isolation at a Brisbane CBD hotel since their arrival in Australia last week due to strict protocols in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Their quarantine does not end until Wednesday, meaning the 32 players and staff have been unable to leave their hotel during the past week and photos of the team stretching on towels in hotel corridors were published by Chinese sports media group Titan Sports on Twitter.
It is understood the team, who have shown no signs of the deadly virus, will arrive in Sydney on Thursday before taking on Thailand in their opening match at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Friday. They then face Taiwan on Monday and the Matildas next Wednesday.
The team was placed in quarantine due to having trained in Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – within 14 days of their arrival in Australia.
The virus has played havoc with the qualifying tournament which has been relocated from Wuhan and Nanjing and then Sydney. Officials have had to adjust the match schedules as well to enable the Chinese to compete.
Several players, including experienced star Wang Shuang, were unable to travel to Australia having returned to Wuhan for Chinese New Year celebrations before the city was placed into lockdown.
China Women's football team's fixture in the 2020 Olympic Qualifying is rescheduled: China vs Thailand, Feb 7. China vs Chinese Taipei, Feb 10. China vs Australia, Feb 12. 3 matches within 6 days. Due to quarantine, Chinese players have to train in hotel corridors after arrival. pic.twitter.com/XOHbABNWav
While her teammates trained in a Brisbane hotel hallway, footage has emerged of Wang kicking a ball with her brother on a rooftop due to being unable to visit a football pitch in her hometown.
Meanwhile, with officials scrambling to find a way to get the opening round of matches for the Asian Champions League group stage played, Perth Glory’ s opponents appear to have made their own plans.
Perth were due to kick off their maiden ACL campaign against Shanghai Shenhua on Tuesday at HBF Park in Perth.
The federal government’ s restrictions on foreign nationals entering Australia from mainland China in response to the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in China has however created a huge headache for organisers.
Last Sunday the FFA advised the AFC neither the Glory match nor Sydney’ s clash with Shanghai SIPG next Wednesday can now be played in Australia.
FFA head of leagues Greg O’ Rourke is in Malaysia attending an urgent meeting with stakeholders at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday as a solution is sought.
It seems however that whatever the outcome, Shanghai Shenhua will not be playing Glory next week with reports the team had cancelled their travel plans to Australia.
“ Since their entry to Australia is blocked, Shanghai Shenhua cancelled their tickets to Australia on Sunday and went to Dubai for pre-season training this morning instead, ” Titan Sports Plus tweeted on Tuesday, adding the club didn’ t expect the Glory match to go ahead as scheduled. | general |
'How is this going to work? ' Airport officials scramble to meet the demands of new coronavirus travel rules | The problem: Some say they 've barely received any guidance or logistical help in implementing new travel and quarantine rules ordered by the federal government.
`` Everyone has been trying to nail down clarifications on the travel ban, '' an official at a major West Coast airport told CNN.
`` There were questions along the line like 'How is this going to work? What are going to be the procedures? ' and 'What are the details on a quarantine? ' ''
The new federal rules, which went into effect Sunday, include:
-- Temporarily banning any foreign national who has visited China in the past 14 days from entering the US
-- Forcing US citizens who have recently traveled to Hubei province -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- to be quarantined for up to 14 days after their return to the US
-- Requiring US citizens returning from other parts of mainland China to undergo health screenings at selected ports of entry. These Americans could also undergo up to 14 days of self-monitored quarantine.
A government official on the East Coast told CNN after the Trump administration's coronavirus travel restrictions came down, local and state officials were left scrambling to figure out how and where to quarantine people who were asymptomatic, but may have been exposed to the virus.
The official said that planes were arriving `` within hours '' with no federal protocols in place, other than that people with symptoms would be treated locally by state and local health agencies, while quarantine locations were still to be determined.
`` The federal government basically said, we're going to bring these planes in, and when they land, you guys figure it out, '' the government official said.
Planes carrying US citizens who have recently been in China must land at one of 11 designated airports: John F. Kennedy in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Honolulu, Dallas, Detroit, Newark and Washington's Dulles.
The West Coast official's airport is one of the 11 airports designated for coronavirus screenings and possible quarantine.
But the official worried the airport was not prepared for large numbers of potentially sick people. Previous training scenarios typically involved preparations for just a small number of sick people, the source said.
`` We have identified a couple of spaces in the airport facility that we can block off and contain people, '' the official said.
While airports scramble, the global death toll soars.
At least 490 people have died from Wuhan coronavirus, mostly in China. The country has more than 23,000 confirmed cases of the virus, which was a mystery illness just two months ago.
In the US, at least 11 people have been diagnosed with Wuhan coronavirus. Two of them contracted the virus from their spouses, who had recently traveled to the Wuhan area.
Officials in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday announced another case of the virus, the fifth in the country.
WHO director warns against travel restrictions
The World Health Organization ( WHO) has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said travel bans might do more harm than good.
`` We reiterate our call to all countries not to impose restrictions that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. Such restrictions can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit. '' Ghebreyesus said in a Tuesday briefing to the UN's executive board in Geneva.
`` Where such measures have been implemented, we urge that they are short in duration, proportionate to the public health risks, and are reconsidered regularly as the situation evolves. ''
At the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, no passengers have shown symptoms of coronavirus or have needed to be quarantined, spokeswoman Alnissa Ruiz-Craig said.
Newark Liberty International Airport also hasn't quarantined anyone over concerns about coronavirus, the New Jersey Department of Health said. Neither has Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, spokesman Perry Cooper said.
Where 195 Americans are quarantined
In Southern California, 195 Americans who took an evacuation flight out of Wuhan last Wednesday are quarantined at March Air Reserve Base.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a federal 14-day quarantine for those evacuees -- the first such order in more than 50 years.
Evacuee Jarred Evans said the group is in good spirits.
`` Everyone is doing pretty fine, '' Evans told CNN Monday. `` People understand that the quarantine is necessary. ''
But by Tuesday, a quarantined child at the base had developed a fever and was headed to Riverside University Health System Medical Center for testing, Riverside County said in a statement.
The child was among the Americans who evacuated from Wuhan last week.
California is expecting two more flights from Wuhan carrying hundreds of American evacuees.
Both flights are expected to depart Tuesday. The new evacuees will head to two California military bases: Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, and Travis Air Force Base between San Francisco and Sacramento.
'We never like a rushed job '
In other parts of the country, officials are scrambling to accommodate the new travel and quarantine rules.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city is adding health screenings and mobilizing first responders. But `` there's a need for clear operational guidance, '' and federal authorities `` need all to get on the same page. ''
`` Local law enforcement, local support should not be on the front lines without a clear federal mandate on these nuanced questions that come from the mandate to quarantine people who are coming from the particular province, '' Lightfoot said.
`` And also, for people who are supposed to self-quarantine, what does that mean? ''
Hawaii is still looking for places to house quarantined people, if necessary. But Lt. Gov. Josh Green said military bases would like be the preferred choice.
`` We will be prepared. We are spending 24/7 on this to make sure that whatever steps necessary be taken to keep our people safe, '' Green told CNN affiliate KITV.
`` But we never like a rushed job, and that's kind of what the federal government did to us. ''
Canadian citizen turned away at the US border
The new travel ban involving those recently in China doesn't just apply at airports.
A Canadian citizen trying to enter the US was turned back at the northern border, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said Monday.
`` We're just beginning, today, to see results of implementation, '' Cuccinelli said.
As for travel by water, the Coast Guard held a ship offshore in Washington state's Puget Sound until it passed a 14-day waiting period and no passenger showed symptoms.
The federal government isn't just trying to seal US borders from incoming coronavirus cases. It's also urging Americans to not go to China.
The State Department issued a level 4 travel advisory warning residents not to travel to China. It said most commercial air carriers have already reduced or suspended flights to and from the country.
Trapped in an apartment thousands of miles away
San Diego resident Kenneth Burnett's wife, Yanjun Wei, 3-year-old son Rowan, and 1-year-old daughter Mia have been trapped in Wuhan, China, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Burnett was supposed to join his family to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the metropolis was shut down.
Wei told her husband she and their children have been holed up in a high-rise apartment.
`` It's terrifying, '' Burnett said. `` It is very dramatic to shut down ( an area) of 50 million people. You think to yourself, if that can happen what else can happen? ''
Burnett and Wei had been trying to get in contact with the State Department and the US Embassy in China for help. Now, Burnett said his wife and children are tentatively booked on the next evacuation flight out.
`` We think my wife and kids will get seats, '' he said, `` but they basically they won't guarantee anything. '' | business |
Coronavirus quarantine precautions around the world | On Tuesday night, at least 144 people who have been trapped in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, are expected to arrive in Thailand on an evacuation flight. They will remain in isolation for 14 days, reportedly at a navy base in Chonburi province. The exact details of where they will be quarantined has not been made public in case there is opposition from local people, according to the broadcaster Thai PBS news.
The country is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Chinese people during the lunar new year break, and officials have warned that an outbreak is possible in its tourist areas. All arrivals from China are being screened at airports, while temperature scanners are being used in malls, and hand sanitiser given out in shops and on the transport system.
On Tuesday, it was announced that six more people in Thailand had been infected with the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases recorded so far to 25. The country confirmed its first case of human-to-human transmission of the virus last week, after a taxi driver was apparently infected by a traveller.
Hundreds more people have been undergoing investigation in hospitals, though most have been found to have seasonal influenza, according to the ministry of public health. Of the 25 cases recorded so far in Thailand, eight have since been discharged from hospital.
Not all countries in south-east Asia are offering to evacuate their citizens. Cambodia has refused to do so, prompting criticism that the country was prioritising economic interests and diplomatic relations over public health. Its leader, Hun Sen, said that an evacuation flight “ would strain relations between the countries ”. Cambodia has introduced screening at airports, though some reports have questioned how effectively this is being implemented.
It is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals.
The virus can cause pneumonia-like symptoms. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties.
In the UK, the National Heath Service has defined the symptoms as:
Medical advice varies around the world - with many countries imposing travel bans and lockdowns to try and prevent the spread of the virus. In many place people are being told to stay at home rather than visit a doctor of hospital in person. Check with your local authorities.
In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days. If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
Yes. China’ s national health commission confirmed human-to-human transmission in January.
China’ s national health commission confirmed human-to-human transmission in January. As of 19 March, more than 219,000 people have been infected in more than 150 countries, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
There have been over 8,900 deaths globally. Just over 3,200 of those deaths have occurred in mainland China. Many of those who have died had underlying health conditions, which the coronavirus complicated.
More than 84,000 people are recorded as having recovered from the coronavirus.
In Indonesia, 238 nationals were sprayed with disinfectant by staff in protective suits as they disembarked from an evacuation flight on Sunday. After an examination, they were flown to Natuna island, where they have been placed in quarantine at Raden Sadjad airbase for two weeks. Indonesia has temporarily banned flights to and from mainland China, and said it won’ t allow those who have been there in recent weeks to enter or transit. The country has also urged citizens to temporarily stop travelling there.
Malaysia evacuated 107 people from Hubei on Monday, with aircraft staff donating 500,000 pairs of rubber gloves as a gift to the Chinese government. Two people, who did not pass a health screening upon arrival, were sent to Kuala Lumpur hospital. Others were taken to a surveillance centre at an education academy, where they will remain for 14 days. The country has suspended all visas on arrival for travellers from Hubei, but not elsewhere.
Following growing public pressure, the Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, banned arrivals from across China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. On Sunday, a 44-year-old Chinese man visiting the Philippines became the first person to die from the new coronavirus outside China. Authorities are now racing to trace those who had contact with the man, who had visited three provinces.
Vietnam has also halted all flights to and from China, as well as its autonomous regions, and stated that it will stop issuing visas for foreign visitors who have been in China in the past two weeks. As of Tuesday, Vietnam had recorded nine cases of the coronavirus.
In Myanmar, no cases have been recorded so far. However, the country lacks capacity to test for the virus, and results take about five days to arrive from Bangkok. Some 59 students who were evacuated in Wuhan remain under quarantine at Kandawnadi hospital, Mandalay, according to local media.
The 20 people confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus in Japan are being treated at several hospitals that are among 400 medical institutions designated by the government to treat the illness. Japan’ s government drew criticism for allowing two men who were among the first group of evacuees from Wuhan to refuse to be tested last week – although they later agreed. Officials said Japanese law did not allow them to forcibly quarantine patients.That policy changed at the weekend with the introduction of emergency measures allowing authorities to forcibly quarantine people who test positive, with penalties applying to those who refuse to be tested. Most of the evacuated people are staying in lodgings provided by the government, including a hotel and a training facility.South Korea has recorded 16 cases, including two that appear to involve people who have not travelled to China: a 42-year-old woman who had recently returned to South Korea from Thailand, and a 48-year-old Chinese man who had been working as a tour guide in Japan.About 700 South Koreans evacuated from Wuhan in recent days have been taken to two quarantine centres about 80km south of Seoul, where they will be kept in isolation for at least two weeks. Plans to quarantine evacuees at the centres, which are usually used to train civil servants, initially met with opposition from local residents who demanded that people returning from Wuhan be quarantined in more remote locations.On Monday, South Korea said it would start testing everyone who develops even mild symptoms, such as a fever or cough, within 14 days of returning from any part of mainland China, Yonhap news agency said. In addition, those who have been in close or casual contact with a confirmed case will be made to self-quarantine for two weeks.
The first batch of an estimated 500 Taiwan residents stranded in Wuhan were allowed to return home late on Monday. The self-governing island has reported 10 cases of the virus and said it would deny entry to all foreign nationals who had been to China during the past 14 days. It has been in dispute with Beijing over coronavirus, saying it is excluded from the World Health Organization because of China’ s objections and as such prevented from receiving timely information about the outbreak – a claim both China and the WHO have denied.
India has had three reported cases of coronavirus, all in Kerala, which has declared a “ state calamity ”. A total of 645 evacuees were flown to Delhi from Wuhan over Saturday and Sunday and are now in two mountain quarantine centres being managed by the army where they will be kept for two weeks.
In Kerala, 2,239 people are under observation and 84 have been admitted to various hospitals – the vast majority of the 2,815 people are presently under community surveillance across India’ s 29 states.
The Indian government has revised the travel advisory asking the public to refrain from travelling to China and ordered that anyone who has travelled to China since 15 January 2020 should report themselves and be put in quarantine. The government has also temporarily suspended the e-Visa facility for Chinese passport holders and e-Visas already issued to Chinese nationals are also not valid temporarily.
Foreigners who have flown from or transited through China are barred from New Zealand for two weeks beginning Monday, and the government has raised its warning level for the country to “ do not travel ”. The national carrier, Air New Zealand, has suspended its Auckland-Shanghai route until late March.
Citizens, permanent residents and their families returning to New Zealand from China are subject to additional checks by nurses at the border, and required to isolate themselves for 14 days upon returning.
Those who wanted to leave Wuhan province have faced a longer wait and an impending quarantine period: a plane carrying about 250 people – New Zealanders, Australians, and people from the Pacific Islands – is due to land in Auckland on Wednesday.
Those onboard will be quarantined at a military base on New Zealand’ s North Island for two weeks, where officials said they would have access to remote working, education, and recreation facilities.
Australia has separately evacuated 243 people, including 89 children, who were in Wuhan to an immigration detention centre on remote Christmas Island, where they will be quarantined for 14 days.
There have been no recorded cases of the virus in North Korea, but the country has taken measures to guard against the disease amid warnings that an epidemic could put an intolerable strain on its poor healthcare infrastructure.North Korea has suspended flights from China and Russia and closed train routes across its borders with those two countries. It has also imposed a ban on foreign tourism and suspended operations at a liaison office it runs with South Korea just north of the demilitarised zone, the heavily armed border separating North and South Korea.The country’ s authorities have stepped up border inspections and health screenings of North Koreans returning from overseas business trips, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Workers’ party.The newspaper said 30,000 health workers had been mobilised to monitor residents and distribute advice on how to avoid becoming infected.
Italy has evacuated 56 people from Wuhan and is quarantining them for two weeks at a military facility near Rome. A passenger who was expected to be on the flight remained in Wuhan after coming down with a fever. The condition of a Chinese couple being treated for coronavirus at Rome’ s Lazzaro Spallanzani institute for infectious diseases health has worsened, the hospital has said.
Italy has a state of emergency in place for the next six months, allowing authorities to unlock investment to try and prevent the spread of the virus. Flights between Italy and China have also been suspended. Panic over the virus continues in Italy, with general practitioners and hospital emergency units overwhelmed with people suffering flu symptoms or simply seeking information from professionals. Codacons, the consumers’ group, has called for group tours at popular sites including the Colosseum to be banned.
Two flights bringing repatriated citizens from China have arrived in France. The first flight brought back 180 French citizens from the Wuhan region. A second flight brought back 250 passengers, mostly EU citizens, including 65 French nationals. The repatriated French people are being held in quarantine for two weeks either at a specially prepared centre in a firefighters’ training school at Aix-en-Provence, or a holiday centre at Carry-le-Rouet, in the Bouches-du-Rhone.
France has six reported cases of coronavirus. Two patients, a man of 31 and a woman of 31, are in a Paris hospital in a serious but not life-threatening condition. A 48-year-old man of “ Chinese origin ” is in hospital in Bordeaux in a stable condition, a Chinese tourist aged 80 is in intensive care in a Paris hospital, and his daughter, who tested positive for the virus, is also in hospital. The first reported case of human-to-human transmission in France is a GP said to have contracted the virus after examining one of the above in Paris.
A total of 12 people have tested positive with the virus in Germany so far. Eight of them are employees of car part supplier Webasto, headquartered in Stockdorf, Bavaria; two are the children of one of the employees. Four of the infected Webasto employees had taken part in a training workshop that was run by a Chinese employee who had only started to feel ill on her return flight to China, where she was subsequently tested positive for the 2019-nCov virus.The company’ s headquarters in Stockdorf have been disinfected by experts over the weekend and are to remain closed until 11 February. A further 140 employees were tested for the virus, and 80 of them have been ordered to stay indoors and avoid human contact even though their test results had returned negative.People arriving in Germany from Wuhan are being assessed at Frankfurt airport’ s medical assessment centre, and then brought to German army barracks in Germersheim, near Heidelberg, where they are put into quarantine for 14 days from arrival or outbreak of the virus. Two German citizens were tested positive after being flown from Wuhan to Frankfurt on a chartered Luftwaffe flight.
The United Kingdom flew back 83 people from Wuhan on Friday with 11 arriving via France on Sunday. All are being quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, where they will stay in staff accommodation and be monitored around the clock for 14 days.
Ireland has no confirmed case of coronavirus and is not quarantining people but officials in hazmat suits escorted a passenger from an airplane as a precaution.
The man, believed to be from China, was transferred to an ambulance on Saturday after arriving in Dublin on an Aeroflot flight from Russia. He had flu-like symptoms but a test revealed he did not have coronavirus. Last week test results had to be sent to the UK but Ireland’ s National Virus Reference Laboratory now has kits, speeding up tests.
A military cargo plane from Turkey on Saturday airlifted 34 Turkish citizens, seven Azerbaijanis, seven Georgians, and one Albanian from Wuhan after medical checks confirmed they were not infected. They are all under a 14-day quarantine at a hospital in Ankara. A Chinese citizen suspected of infection was held in quarantine on arrival in Istanbul for 36 hours then voluntarily returned home after that.
Seven people evacuated from Wuhan arrived in Hungary on Sunday and will be quarantined for two weeks.
Russia has sent planes to China as it begins its evacuation from Wuhan and Hubei province. More than 700 Russians are said to be living in the region, of whom 132 had expressed a desire to return to Russia, the country’ s embassy in Beijing has reported. They will be subject to a two-week quarantine period at a sanatorium in Tyumen region with a guarded perimeter.
In the past few days, Russia has quickly stepped up travel restrictions to and from China. Late Monday night, the government announced a temporary ban on direct travel for foreigners from China to Russia, except via Moscow’ s Sheremetyevo airport.
Two cases of infection have been reported in Russia, one in Siberia and the other in Russia’ s far east. Both of the victims are Chinese citizens. One of the men, Yan Wunbin, wrote in a letter to the Chita.ru website that he was never given his test results and only learned that he had been diagnosed with the coronavirus from media reports. He complained about conditions at the hospital in Russia’ s Zabaykalsky Krai region about 240 miles from the Chinese border. There were not enough doctors on call and he was worried for the health of his two-year-old daughter, who was ill and in quarantine with him.
The United Arab Emirates has recorded five cases of coronavirus, four of whom are Chinese tourists from the same family. Emirates officials say the family, along with a fifth patient, have been quarantined in local hospitals in rooms that have lower air pressure than normal. Air can flow into these rooms, but not out, minimising the risk of the virus spreading.
As one of the world’ s most important transit hubs, with major airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, an outbreak of the virus there would be of particular concern. Authorities say they are confident in their ability to contain its spread, and on Tuesday took further measures to do so – banning most flights to and from mainland China and introducing strict protocols, involving up to eight hours of vetting and health checks for anyone wanting to travel from Beijing, which remains the only route still flown, and only by Emirates Airlines.
Officials in the UAE say the threat from Middle East respiratory syndrome six years ago sparked a comprehensive response this time round. Mers was an even more potent form of coronavirus, killing up to 17% of those who contracted it. By contrast the current virus has a death rate of closer to 3%. The five patients in the UAE will be quarantined for 14 days in government-run hospitals.
There have been no verified infections in Africa to date, but several countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Angola, Botswana and Ivory Coast, have signalled possible infections. Confirming or ruling out coronavirus in the continent can take time, as health authorities lacking expertise have to send samples to labs in countries such as South Africa.
The WHO has identified 13 top priority countries on the continent, including much of eastern, central and southern Africa, which either have direct links or a high volume of travel to China. All the concerned states have put in place controls at airports, using thermal cameras to detect potentially infected passengers, and have readied isolation units. At the weekend, Air Tanzania joined five other African airlines in suspending or restricting flights to China, though Ethiopia’ s national flag carrier, which carries almost half of all passengers, has maintained flights.
Nigeria has urged any person arriving from China to “ self-isolate ” for at least two weeks, even if they are not ill, and in Mozambique, the government has suspended visas for Chinese citizens and forbidden its citizens from travelling there. Authorities in South Africa said they had set up an emergency operations centre and were monitoring passengers at 36 entry points.
The one confirmed case of an African with coronavirus is a 21-year-old student from Cameroon living in Jingzhou city, one of more than 80,000 students from the continent in Africa. At least 4,000 of that number are believed to be in Wuhan.
The Trump administration declared the coronavirus a public health emergency and has severely limited who can enter the United States based on their travels to China. People who recently travelled to mainland China and are neither permanent residents nor immediate relatives of permanent residents will not be allowed to enter the country. It is the most severe travel restriction since a smallpox outbreak prompted mandatory quarantines five decades ago.
Citizens and permanent residents returning from Hubei, the province including Wuhan, will be quarantined on military bases for two weeks. Americans returning from other parts of mainland China will be subject to a two-week at-home quarantine.
All three major US airlines have cancelled services to China and US officials are “ funnelling ” all travellers from China to just seven airports in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Honolulu, Seattle and Atlanta.
To date, 11 people in the US have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, two of whom live outside Chicago.
Canada has chartered an aircraft to evacuate 304 citizens from Wuhan. Upon arrival in Canada, all passengers on the flight will be quarantined for two weeks at CFB Trenton, a military base in Ontario.
Instead of barring travellers from China, Canada has instead requested that they self-report any symptoms related to the coronavirus, resisting calls for broader screening measures. Of the four confirmed cases in Canada – all of which were self-reported – one patient has been discharged from hospital following a successful recovery.
So far no cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Latin America, but there are particular fears over how Venezuela’ s collapsed health service might cope with any outbreak. But regional governments have begun taking steps to identify any possible cases and evacuate citizens from Wuhan.
Private companies are also acting. Uber this week said it had suspended the accounts of two drivers and 240 users in Mexico after discovering that a Chinese man who was later diagnosed with coronavirus in the United States had used the ride-hailing service while visiting the capital.
In the northern city of Ciudad Juárez the Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn reportedly placed 45 Chinese business people in informal quarantine at one of its factories as a precautionary measure since many employees had visited Wuhan.
But Mexican newspapers have raised concerns that citizens returning from China are not being screened on arrival. Mexico’ s health ministry says only those arriving from Hubei province are being examined.
Brazil said on Sunday that it would evacuate its citizens from Wuhan by plane after facing criticism for its slow response. Once back in Brazil, those evacuated are expected to be placed in quarantine on a military base.
Reporting team: Rebecca Ratcliffe, Justin McCurry, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Charlotte Graham-McLay, Angela Giuffrida, Kim Willsher, Philip Oltermann, Rory Carroll, Shaun Walker, Bethan McKernan, Martin Chulov, Jason Burke, Jessica Glenza, Leyland Cecco and Tom Phillips | general |
Will China's Stimulus Save Oil Prices From the Coronavirus? | Shortly after calm had returned in the Persian Gulf amid the U.S.-Iran conflict, oil prices have plummeted since news of the coronavirus outbreak in China first emerged.
Oil prices had rallied to mid- $ 60s at the height of the conflict, but by the time coronavirus hit China, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil had already eased from multimonth highs to trade just above the $ 57 level.
On Monday, the price of light crude oil dropped below $ 50 per barrel for the first time since January 2019. An attempted recovery late on proved fruitless on Tuesday, with a barrel trading at around $ 49.85 at the time of writing. This implies a decline of more than 25% in the span of four weeks, down from $ 65.68 on Jan. 8.
It looks like oil prices have failed to react to China's attempt to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. On Sunday, the Chinese government announced that it will pump 1.2 trillion yuan ( $ 171 billion) into its financial system to try to protect its economy from the coronavirus epidemic.
On Tuesday, the FTSE 100 Index surged 1.48%. This was mirrored by leading indexes across Europe, with the German DAX 30 gaining 1.52% and the French CAC 40 climbing 1.42%. This has helped stock markets around the world to recover this week, but oil prices remain significantly low.
China is one of the world's biggest importers of oil. Since the World Health Organization issued a statement warning about a potential global outbreak of coronavirus, China's demand for oil has slumped. This has affected oil prices and even the stimulus package announcement does not appear to be helping the situation.
Oil stocks have not been spared either, with a majority of them registering significant declines. Shares of U.S. oil and gas giants Exxon Mobil Corp. ( NYSE: XOM) and Chevron Corp. ( NYSE: CVX) are down 14% and 9%, respectively, while Royal Dutch Shell ( RDS) has shed 13% of its market value.
On the other hand, BP PLC ( LSE: BP) is down just over 6% after gaining 4% on Tuesday, while newly listed Saudi Arabian Oil Co. ( SAU:2222) has dropped 3.3%.
In general, the oil market appears to be experiencing extreme bearish pressure, which is primarily caused by a decline in demand. Ironically, this is usually not the driving force behind the volatility of oil prices.
Investors often look at production and supply numbers in the futures markets to gauge the direction of the WTI and Brent crude prices. Therefore, the next few weeks could be very unpredictable for those looking to trade oil or oil and gas stocks.
Analysts are already predicting that China might be forced to increase the amount it plans to inject into the economy to stem the adverse impact of coronavirus. But unless global fears calm, we might continue to witness more declines in the price of oil.
In summary, the price of oil appears to be adversely affected by fears of a global outbreak of coronavirus. The deadly virus has already been reported in multiple parts of Asia. But with WHO directing all nations to take the appropriate measures to derail the spread, we could yet turn a corner soon.
Disclosure: No positions in stocks mentioned.
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| business |
Coronavirus is a deadly test: did the world learn the lessons of Sars? | Merely a month after a mysterious respiratory illness arose in Wuhan, China, the world is already in the grip of a global outbreak. Now designated a “ public health emergency of international concern ” by the World Health Organization, and probably not far off earning the more sinister name “ pandemic ”, the 2019-nCov coronavirus outbreak has already surpassed its cousin Sars in terms of the number of cases confirmed. Although it has a lower fatality rate than Sars, it’ s too early to tell whether 2019-nCov will be remembered as something much more frightening.
So have we learned the lessons of 2003? Are we now in a better position to tackle and ultimately contain this virus? The answer is both yes and no.
Yes, because the Chinese response was relatively swift, open and helpful, compared with 17 years before. The viral DNA signature was determined and published in record time, as were case reports about the illness. Locking down Wuhan and curtailing the mass movement of citizens during a major holiday period look to have been wise moves. But also no, because before coming to its senses the initial government response did hark back to Sars: a kneejerk cover-up, presumably born of an unwillingness to admit that a major crisis could be in the offing. As a result, the scourge went unchecked for days, allowing people to spread the disease widely within China’ s borders and, inevitably, outside them.
And though its exact genesis is unclear, the virus emerged in the fertile breeding ground of a wild animal market. Despite knowing full well that these places are outbreak incubators, the Chinese authorities failed to regulate them out of existence after Sars. For all we know, they never will.
Yet it is wrong to assume that had China only played by the rules this epidemic would never have happened. Viruses do not respect rules, and they do not always act predictably. They have one sole purpose: to create copies of themselves and to pass them on. They have no innate malevolence, but simply the imperative to find a new host in which to survive, as without such protection they will perish. A “ hot ” virus in a remote village may kill off all of its potential hosts before it has a chance to spread; a pandemic virus has to be more subtle.
To an emerging pathogen, hosts of a different species present both a threat and an opportunity. Faced with a wild west of unfamiliar tissues and inhospitable docking points, the cross-species incursion is often a very short ride. Yet a potential paradise awaits those that can adapt: an immune system that will give it an initial pass because it has never encountered it before, and an entire population for further onward transmission. Thrust into a crucible of pure natural selection, the virus can throw off millions of slight mutants of itself in the hope that one of them will “ stick ” – allowing safe passage into accommodating tissue, subverting our cells into dutiful photocopiers, tickling the lungs into coughing fits to propel its progeny towards the next victim. Viruses can mutate in real time: the Wuhan virus, which at the moment has not moved far beyond those intially exposed to it, may at any point become more virulent.
You also don’ t need a wild animal market to stumble across a new pathogen. As we slash through virgin forests, we will rub shoulders with animals that have never seen humans before ( bearing viruses that are similarly naive). As our planet warms, melting permafrost could release viruses held in stasis for millennia, and disease vectors will push into territories once too cold for them. Our ever-increasing appetite for global travel, and the growth of super-cities, will amplify the number of chance encounters, many of which, in a less complex era of fewer people, would have simply burned out.
While it is almost certainly the case that there will be more frequent coronavirus outbreaks in the future, it’ s impossible to know which viral class will cause the next Big One: our old nemesis influenza, a retrovirus like HIV, a haemorrhagic virus like Ebola, a flavivirus like dengue, West Nile and Zika – or something entirely unknown to science. This is why we must avoid the temptation to put all our eggs in one basket; it would surely be a mistake to blow the budget on coronavirus research when the next thing may well turn out to be something entirely different.
As we can’ t predict which pathogen will give us grief, the most important thing we can do is to invest in preparedness itself. Don’ t get me wrong: great science is compelling stuff, and I’ ve been impressed with how quickly the scientific community has responded. Advances in so-called DNA vaccines circumvent the need for virus isolation and biological experimentation: all you need is the blueprint, and you’ re good to go. Within days of the Chinese sequencing the virus, a number of labs used the published code to start crafting a vaccine based on genetic material. It’ s early days, as no DNA vaccine has yet been licensed for use, but it’ s clear that in a relatively short time this technology will become a lifesaver.
But as amazing as our science has and will become, it is probably public health and prevention that will do the lion’ s share of keeping us safe. Worthy, boring activities such as legislating against situations where people can come into contact easily with exotic animals; increasing the availability and uptake of hand sanitisers; developing more effective mass-produced masks; enhanced port-of-entry surveillance; incentivising open communication about outbreaks in cultures in which such candour is problematic; getting better at hospital management, triage and life-support of the critically ill.
None of this comes cheaply – the world’ s governments need to set aside significant funding. Much as for climate change, countries will have to accept the need to ringfence money even though the worst has not yet happened. Although the Wuhan virus shows that this imperative has never been stronger, such provision has been slashed in recent years. For example, in the United States federal investment has declined by 50% since 2014, and the Trump administration has overseen cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the effect of reducing or stopping epidemic-prevention efforts in 39 out of the 49 countries it had been involved in. A recent report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board painted a bleak portrait of “ gaps, weaknesses and inefficiencies ” in the world’ s response systems. In short, most experts admit that we just aren’ t ready for the next highly lethal pandemic.
We can only hope that the lessons of Wuhan will be learned in a way that those of Sars were not. For we are all linked, developed nations and developing, democracies and dictatorships alike. Viruses know no borders and respect no ideology: only openness, cooperation, readiness and plenty of money can keep them at bay.
• Jennifer Rohn is a cell biologist at University College London | general |
EM stocks stage rebound, set to snap eight-day losing streak | * EM stocks index up after losing over 6% in eight days
* China's central bank to inject liquidity into markets
* Turkish stocks rise with Halkbank leading gains
* Russian rouble firms as oil shows signs of recovery
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Feb 4 ( Reuters) - Stocks across the developing world staged a comeback on Tuesday, rising for the first time in nine sessions as China's pledge to use monetary policy tools calmed some nerves around the coronavirus epidemic.
In efforts to ease concerns, the People's Bank of China said it was injecting 1.2 trillion yuan ( $ 174 billion) worth of liquidity into the markets via reverse repo operations on Monday.
`` This relieves some immediate liquidity pressures. It also allows the PBoC to scoop up all the assets that nobody else wants to hold right now via reverse repo, '' said Michael Every, senior strategist at Rabobank.
`` The underlying market hope is clear: central banks will save us, not just from the business cycle, and not just from climate change, but now from global pandemic too. ''
A basket of emerging market equities rose 1.7%, after losing more than 6% in the last eight sessions, as risk appetite was battered by the fast spreading virus in China.
Hong Kong reported its first death from the coronavirus on Tuesday, the second outside mainland China from an outbreak that has killed over 420 people so far.
Turkish stocks climbed more than 1%, with shares in state-owned Halkbank leading gains as it jumped more than 7% after a federal U.S. appeals court on Monday agreed to pause proceedings while a three-judge panel reviews a motion by the bank to dismiss charges against it.
Stocks in Russia stabilized, while the rouble gradually firmed after hitting two-month lows in the previous session. The commodity-linked currency also tracked a slight recovery in oil prices.
Currencies in central and eastern European economies including Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania strengthened versus the euro.
For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2020, see http: //tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2020, see https: //tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX
For TOP NEWS across emerging markets
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see
For TURKISH market report, see
For RUSSIAN market report, see ( Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Giles Elgood) | business |
Nike warns the coronavirus will have a ‘ material impact’ on its China business | The coronavirus matter is hitting Nike’ s ( NKE) business in Greater China, according to a statement released by the global sportswear giant company.
“ In the context of the evolving dynamics related to the coronavirus in China, Nike, Inc. is prioritizing the health and safety of our teammates and partners, in cooperation with local authorities, ” the company said. “ Similar to others in the marketplace, approximately half of Nike-owned stores have been temporarily closed, with corresponding dynamics across our partner stores. In addition, we are operating with reduced hours and experiencing lower than planned retail traffic in stores that do remain open. In the short term, we expect the situation to have a material impact on our operations in Greater China. ”
Nike shares were down by more than 3% following the news.
Greater China is a key part of Nike’ s global strategy, with international business in the region growing 23% in Q2.
Newly installed Nike CEO John Donahoe said in a statement that the topic of the coronavirus was not contemplated when the company put out its Q3 guidance. Despite the blow that the situation in China might cause, Donahoe is still confident in Nike’ s long-term prospects in China.
“ Despite this difficult situation, Nike’ s long-term opportunity to continue to serve consumers in Greater China with inspiration and innovation remains exceedingly strong, ” he said. “ At the same time, we continue to have extraordinary brand and business momentum in all other geographies. ”
Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ ReggieWade.
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Asia markets set to rise as investors monitor coronavirus | Asia Pacific markets mostly traded higher on Wednesday, building on gains from the previous session, after stocks sold off recently due to worries over the new coronavirus outbreaks.
Chinese shares led gains in the region, with the Shanghai composite up 1.25% to around 2,818.09. The Shenzhen component index rose 2.14% to 10,305.50 and the Shenzhen composite added 2.48% to about 1,678.63. The Chinext start-up board was up more than 3% to around 2,180.29.
On Monday, stocks in mainland China had plummeted more than 7% after they returned to trade following an extended holiday as the rapidly spreading pneumonia-like virus spooked investors.
Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.02% to 23,319.56 while the Topix index added 1.04% to 1,701.83. The yen, considered a safe-haven asset in times of market uncertainties, changed hands at 109.42 per dollar, weakening from levels below 108.80 earlier in the week.
In South Korea, the Kospi index erased some of its near 1% gains to trade up 0.36% at 2,165.63. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gave up most of its gains of around 0.83% earlier to trade up 0.27%.
Australia's benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.39% to 6,976.10, as the heavily weighted financial subindex gave up earlier gains to finish fractionally lower. Major banking stocks in the country closed mixed, with Commonwealth Bank shares dropping 1.22%.
The session in Asia Pacific followed overnight rallies on Wall Street and in Europe.
`` Markets have now embarked on a new rebound, spurred by China's efforts to support its economy alongside an apparent decline in concerns over the Coronavirus impact on the global economy, '' Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign-exchange strategist at the National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note.
China's central bank lowered interest rates on reverse repurchase agreements — a tool used by central banks to add money to the money supply — on Monday to ensure adequate liquidity supply in the system as the country tackles to contain the virus outbreak. The People's Bank of China reduced the 7-day reverse repo rate by 10 basis points from 2.50% to 2.40%, and the 14-day rate was slashed from 2.65% to 2.55%.
PBOC injected 1.7 trillion yuan ( approx. $ 242 billion) into money markets through reverse repurchase operations on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, the central bank said it decided not to conduct open market operations for the day because there was `` adequate liquidity in the current banking system, which is sufficient to meet the market demand. ''
Still, some economists think the Chinese central bank's efforts may not be enough to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak that has already killed 490 people in the country.
Read: Coronavirus live updates: Death toll in China hits 490, as confirmed cases cross 24,000
The fast-spreading infection is already starting to have an impact on China: travel numbers have declined due to restrictions and quarantines, businesses are feeling the impact from falling demand, and large swathes of the country remain shut, including many factories.
`` Each day as populations remain quarantined, firms and factories are shuttered and uncertainty remains regarding the spread and severity of the coronavirus, the impacts spread further within China via a number of channels within the economy, '' Steve Cochrane, chief Asia Pacific economist at Moody's Analytics, wrote in a note.
Cochrane said that while economic impacts of the virus outbreak will be felt elsewhere in Asia and in the U.S., China will feel the brunt of it. He highlighted five industrial sectors that appear to be most at risk from the coronavirus and the resulting quarantines throughout the country: Transportation and warehouse industry, wholesale and retail trade, commercial real estate, entertainment, and manufacturing.
`` These five industries combined would reduce first-quarter 2020 GDP by 1.2%, or around 0.3% for the entire year, '' Cochrane wrote. `` This does not include multiplier effects within other industries, a longer-term loss of confidence, or the longer-term impact on credit availability and credit quality. ''
South Korea's Hyundai Motor said on Tuesday it decided to temporarily suspend production assembly lines from operating at all of its plants in the country due to disruptions in the supply of parts from China. Hyundai shares closed flat.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded at 98.004 against a basket of peers, climbing from a low of 97.787 in the previous session. The Australian dollar was flat around $ 0.6738.
Oil prices advanced during Asian hours on Wednesday: U.S. crude was up 0.87% at $ 50.04 a barrel while global benchmark Brent advanced 0.96% to $ 54.48.
OPEC and its allies could cut production by more than a million barrels a day, according to some experts. The producer group is said to likely bring forward a planned policy meeting from March to February, which would underscore the serious worries over a double-digital collapse in the price of oil this year.
For the year, U.S. crude is down more than 19% while Brent is lower by 18%, and there are worries that the coronavirus outbreak will significantly curb demand. Moody's Analytics said in a note that at current prices, `` commodity producers will soon begin to cut back on production and investment. '' | business |
Safe-haven yen, Swiss franc slide for 2nd day as risk appetite grows | The safe-haven yen and Swiss franc fell for a second straight session against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, with risk appetite growing as investors were encouraged that the Chinese government was taking measures to contain the coronavirus and limit its economic fallout.
Currencies such as the Australian dollar and offshore Chinese yuan climbed. The People's Bank of China ( PBOC) has pumped in hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system this week. In the past two days, the PBOC has injected 1.7 trillion yuan ( $ 242.74 billion) through open market operations.
`` It feels like the containment measures and getting more information about the virus have helped the market and so investors are not so worried about uncertainty, '' said Thomas Anderson, managing director at moneycorp North America.
`` I think people overreacted last week and now they're unwinding that overreaction, '' he added. `` China pretty much jumped into everything they needed to do to stabilize the market and it worked. ''
Still, the death toll from the virus epidemic climbed to 427, infecting 20,438 in China. There have been nearly 200 cases elsewhere across 24 countries. Also, the outbreak is expected to have a devastating impact on first-quarter growth, policy sources said.
In late morning trading, the dollar rose 0.5% against the yen to 109.26 yen, and gained 0.3% versus the Swiss franc to 0.9690 franc.
Gains against the yen and franc helped push the dollar index higher to 97.922, up 0.1% on the day. In U.S. politics, Democratic Party officials blamed `` inconsistencies '' for an indefinite delay in Iowa's caucus results.
A victory by left-leaning Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren could hurt shares and boost safe-haven currencies. The euro, meanwhile, slipped 0.1% against the dollar to $ 1.1040.
The Australian dollar rose 0.5% to US $ 0.67285, pulling away from a 10 1/2-year low of $ 0.6670 touched last October, after the Reserve Bank of Australia left its main cash rate unchanged at 0.75%.
The offshore yuan rose against the dollar, which fell 0.3% to 6.9935. | business |
US submarine armed with 'low-yield ' nuclear weapon, Pentagon says | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The US Defense Department announced Tuesday that it has deployed a submarine carrying a new long-range missile with a relatively small nuclear warhead, saying it is in response to Russian tests of similar weapons.
The move is a significant change in US defense posture that has raised concerns it could elevate the risk of a nuclear war.
Critics worry that small nukes would be more likely to be used because they cause less damage, thereby lowering the threshold for nuclear conflict.
But the Pentagon says it is crucial to deterring rivals like Moscow who might assume that, with only large, massively destructive nuclear weapons in its arsenal, the United States would not respond to another country's first use of a small, `` tactical '' nuclear bomb.
The deployment of the W76-2 low-yield warhead is `` to address the conclusion that potential adversaries, like Russia, believe that employment of low-yield nuclear weapons will give them an advantage over the United States and its allies and partners, '' Under Secretary of Defense John Rood said in a statement.
The W76-2 has an estimated explosive yield of five kilotons, compared to the 455-kiloton and 90-kiloton yields of nuclear warheads already deployed on US submarines, according to William Arkin and Hans Kristensen, writing on the Federation of American Scientists website.
It is also smaller than the 15 kiloton and 21 kiloton atomic bombs US forces dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan near the end of World War II in 1945.
Arkin and Kristensen said the new small warheads have been deployed on the USS Tennessee submarine, patrolling in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Mutual assured destruction -
The Pentagon indicated that it would deploy a small nuclear weapon in its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.
Behind the development was the US view that Moscow itself was developing tactical nuclear weapons in the expectation it could use them without provoking the massive retaliation that was the basis of the classic nuclear deterrence calculus of the Cold War: `` mutual assured destruction. ''
The Pentagon view was that the Russians, if they found themselves struggling in a conventional war, might use a small nuclear weapon if they thought the US military, with only large nukes at hand, would not retaliate with them.
US forces have had tactical-sized nuclear weapons for many years, but ones that could only be dropped as bombs from aircraft or delivered by cruise missile -- which Russia could more easily defend against.
A low-yield nuclear warhead on a submarine-launched ballistic missile would more likely penetrate Russian defenses, and, in the Pentagon's view, more likely make Moscow, or another adversary like China, think twice before attacking with its small nukes.
The new weapons `` strengthens deterrence and provides the United States a prompt, more survivable low-yield strategic weapon, '' Rood said.
It also `` demonstrates to potential adversaries that there is no advantage to limited nuclear employment because the United States can credibly and decisively respond to any threat scenario. ''
But critics say that, after decades in which the sheer size of nuclear weapons had been seen as a deterrence to their use, a small nuclear warhead could increase that possibility.
`` While some argue that this warhead is a response to Russia's so-called 'escalate to de-escalate ' strategy that will strengthen deterrence and raise the nuclear threshold, others contend that it will lower the threshold for US use and increase the risk of nuclear war, '' the Congressional Research service said in a report last month.
- Global stability -
The deployment came after the US withdrawal last year from a Cold War–era arms control pact, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which had aimed to lower the risks of nuclear conflict by banning ground-launched, nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
Washington withdrew after it concluded that Russia had already developed a missile, the SSC-8, that violated the treaty.
The Pentagon move also comes as the US and Russia face a decision on whether to renew the 2010 US-Russia New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or `` New START, '' which saw both sides reduce the total number of nuclear warheads they have.
`` An extension would show the world that Washington and Moscow are committed to a verifiable, effective arms control agreement for the benefit of global stability, '' said Brian Sittlow of the Council of Foreign Relations.
The US Defense Department announced Tuesday that it has deployed a submarine carrying a new long-range missile with a relatively small nuclear warhead, saying it is in response to Russian tests of similar weapons.
The move is a significant change in US defense posture that has raised concerns it could elevate the risk of a nuclear war.
Critics worry that small nukes would be more likely to be used because they cause less damage, thereby lowering the threshold for nuclear conflict.
But the Pentagon says it is crucial to deterring rivals like Moscow who might assume that, with only large, massively destructive nuclear weapons in its arsenal, the United States would not respond to another country’ s first use of a small, “ tactical ” nuclear bomb.
The deployment of the W76-2 low-yield warhead is “ to address the conclusion that potential adversaries, like Russia, believe that employment of low-yield nuclear weapons will give them an advantage over the United States and its allies and partners, ” Under Secretary of Defense John Rood said in a statement.
The W76-2 has an estimated explosive yield of five kilotons, compared to the 455-kiloton and 90-kiloton yields of nuclear warheads already deployed on US submarines, according to William Arkin and Hans Kristensen, writing on the Federation of American Scientists website.
It is also smaller than the 15 kiloton and 21 kiloton atomic bombs US forces dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan near the end of World War II in 1945.
Arkin and Kristensen said the new small warheads have been deployed on the USS Tennessee submarine, patrolling in the Atlantic Ocean.
– Mutual assured destruction –
The Pentagon indicated that it would deploy a small nuclear weapon in its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.
Behind the development was the US view that Moscow itself was developing tactical nuclear weapons in the expectation it could use them without provoking the massive retaliation that was the basis of the classic nuclear deterrence calculus of the Cold War: “ mutual assured destruction. ”
The Pentagon view was that the Russians, if they found themselves struggling in a conventional war, might use a small nuclear weapon if they thought the US military, with only large nukes at hand, would not retaliate with them.
US forces have had tactical-sized nuclear weapons for many years, but ones that could only be dropped as bombs from aircraft or delivered by cruise missile — which Russia could more easily defend against.
A low-yield nuclear warhead on a submarine-launched ballistic missile would more likely penetrate Russian defenses, and, in the Pentagon’ s view, more likely make Moscow, or another adversary like China, think twice before attacking with its small nukes.
The new weapons “ strengthens deterrence and provides the United States a prompt, more survivable low-yield strategic weapon, ” Rood said.
It also “ demonstrates to potential adversaries that there is no advantage to limited nuclear employment because the United States can credibly and decisively respond to any threat scenario. ”
But critics say that, after decades in which the sheer size of nuclear weapons had been seen as a deterrence to their use, a small nuclear warhead could increase that possibility.
“ While some argue that this warhead is a response to Russia’ s so-called ‘ escalate to de-escalate’ strategy that will strengthen deterrence and raise the nuclear threshold, others contend that it will lower the threshold for US use and increase the risk of nuclear war, ” the Congressional Research service said in a report last month.
– Global stability –
The deployment came after the US withdrawal last year from a Cold War–era arms control pact, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which had aimed to lower the risks of nuclear conflict by banning ground-launched, nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
Washington withdrew after it concluded that Russia had already developed a missile, the SSC-8, that violated the treaty.
The Pentagon move also comes as the US and Russia face a decision on whether to renew the 2010 US-Russia New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or “ New START, ” which saw both sides reduce the total number of nuclear warheads they have.
“ An extension would show the world that Washington and Moscow are committed to a verifiable, effective arms control agreement for the benefit of global stability, ” said Brian Sittlow of the Council of Foreign Relations.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
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Q & A: Digital transformation of real estate is all about data ( Includes interview) | Hi, what are you looking for?
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No sector of the economy can escape digital transformation, and real estate is no different. The sector is beginning to be disrupted by digital only firms and new technologies.
To understand more about the change process, Digital Journal caught up with Reonomy CEO and Co-founder, Rich Sarkis.
Digital Journal: How important is data for the modern business?
Rich Sarkis: Data is leveraged in nearly every area of commerce and human interaction. In healthcare, data analytics has facilitated innovations like personalized medicine, computer-aided diagnosis, and automated internal and external patient data reporting. In the realm of marketing, consumer brands harness the power of data to target ideal consumers at optimal times and locations, dramatically impacting revenue outcomes. The list of data’ s applications in business is virtually limitless. And as new analytical methods are deployed and computer processing power increases, its implementations will only become more and more commonplace, making its use imperative for the modern business. There are serious implications for businesses opting out of access to data, ranging from strategic implications to competitive disadvantages. So in the age of machine learning and artificial intelligence, manual data analysis is not an option for companies seeking longevity.
DJ: What can be achieved with big data analytics for real estate?
Sarkis: While some industries have taken greater leaps in harnessing the power of big data, real estate has only begun to explore its benefits in recent years.
Decisions that were once based on manually collected records and years of industry experience and market knowledge, can now be made faster and more accurately. What results is a faster speed to market and an ability to make predictions rooted in fact.
Companies like Reonomy are using machine learning and data analytics to make sense of the fragmented world of commercial real estate information by creating a universal data language. Standardization reduces redundancies in information and discrepancies in record linkage, enabling greater accuracy and efficiency as well as increased connectivity across disparate systems. With this level of standardization, commercial real estate professionals are able to utilize big data analytics to gain a more holistic and transparent view into estate markets, which in turn, enables quicker analysis and faster decision-making.
DJ: What insights can be gained about specific markets?
Sarkis: By analyzing transactional data at the national, state, and regional level, we’ re able to derive insights on the cyclical performance of markets at different phases of the economic cycle. We can also determine indicators of investment by juxtaposing demographic, employment, and transportation data to commercial real estate data ( transaction counts, transaction volumes, and transaction prices) to measure indicators of investment and see which markets are likely to perform well.
DJ: What other types of patterns can big data analytics reveal?
Sarkis: Some of the most compelling patterns that big data analytics is able to reveal is around real estate developers leveraging historical data to estimate project costs and construction schedule delays, institutional and private investors able to find acquisition opportunities that best fit their investment strategies. In the debt space, loan underwriters are able to minimize risk by assessing borrowers’ credibility in new ways. Advancements in IoT have also given more visibility to property managers, who can make use of data collected by various IoT devices to optimize building systems performance and reduce operational costs.
DJ: How do customers feel about providing data? Do they have privacy concerns?
Sarkis: Our clients are no strangers to privacy. We’ re able to ensure a level of trust by establishing that we have robust security measures in place and that their data will not be shared or misused. Ultimately, our clients understand that by un-siloing their data, they’ re helping us improve our machine learning algorithms, which in turn, allows them to receive even more in-depth insights.
DJ: What other digital transformation technologies interest you?
Sarkis: The world of interconnectivity and integrations is particularly interesting to our customers, and in turn, of huge interest to Reonomy as a business.
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
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For China virus insurance, check the small print | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Companies and tourists out of pocket from the global disruption caused by the virus epidemic in China risk meeting a cold shoulder from insurers, industry experts warn.
Basic travel insurance policies are unlikely to cover epidemics. Instead, individuals are being advised initially to consult their credit card or travel providers to get refunded for cancelled bookings, and for medical costs.
For companies such as airlines that are now ripping up their China plans, there may be no recourse from their insurers, according to Clarissa Franks, risk management placement leader at insurance broker Marsh in London.
`` The devil really is in the details because business interruption policies, contingency policies, can cover communicable diseases. However, policy language will quite often exclude this type of disease, '' she told AFP.
- Ripple effects -
It is too early to determine overall costs to the insurance industry from the deadly coronavirus spreading out of China, whose death toll has now surpassed that of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS) outbreak in 2002-03.
The reinsurance market at Lloyd's of London has not seen any untoward activity from traditional insurers looking to hedge their exposure to risks arising from this outbreak, two sources in the underwriting trade said.
But even if they are not covered for communicable diseases specifically, companies will be checking the fine print as ripple effects flow through their China operations and global supply chains, following Beijing's decision to quarantine entire cities.
As with SARS and other pandemics of recent years such as swine flu, Zika and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS), the industry will be `` paying very close attention to this '', Association of British Insurers spokesman Malcolm Tarling said.
He cautioned individuals and companies: `` If someone travels ( to China) against government advice, then most policies will be invalidated. If you believe your trip is essential, you need to talk to your insurer first. ''
- Risk calculus -
The closest analogy is SARS, which first broke out in China in 2002 and led to a slew of disputes between companies and their insurance providers.
For the travel industry alone, the impact of SARS was estimated by the World Travel and Tourism Council at $ 30-50 billion.
But China's economy accounted for five percent of global gross domestic product then, compared to nearly a fifth today, according to World Bank data.
More Chinese now travel abroad than any other nationality, and they spend the most on average while away.
The number of infections from the new virus stands at more than 17,200, and the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency.
But health experts stress its mortality rate among patients is lower than for SARS.
In a blog, Risk Management Solutions noted that several sporting and cultural events have already been cancelled in China, `` and all risk stakeholders will be anxious over the number of months before 2019-nCoV ( the novel coronavirus) is contained ''.
- Specialist coverage -
Leading British insurer Aviva said customers need to have specific coverage for `` travel disruption '' as part of their policy to be sure of reimbursement for changes to their plans.
`` We're monitoring the situation closely, but so far the overwhelming majority of claims relate to customers who are travelling to and from China, '' an Aviva spokeswoman said.
Allianz of Germany said the first port of call for individuals suffering disruption should be their airline or travel agency, rather than their insurer.
The company said the outbreak was `` clearly a very urgent alert '' but at this stage, normal terms and conditions of insurance contracts applied.
For airlines and other companies in the firing line, communicable diseases will typically only be covered if they have taken out specialist coverage.
But that would come at a cost that probably outweighs the risk-benefit return.
`` Traditional insurance can't cover everything and non-traditional insurance will tend to carry a significant cost and require a thorough process to determine what an individual company needs, '' Franks at Marsh said.
`` It will be a very bespoke product. ''
Companies and tourists out of pocket from the global disruption caused by the virus epidemic in China risk meeting a cold shoulder from insurers, industry experts warn.
Basic travel insurance policies are unlikely to cover epidemics. Instead, individuals are being advised initially to consult their credit card or travel providers to get refunded for cancelled bookings, and for medical costs.
For companies such as airlines that are now ripping up their China plans, there may be no recourse from their insurers, according to Clarissa Franks, risk management placement leader at insurance broker Marsh in London.
“ The devil really is in the details because business interruption policies, contingency policies, can cover communicable diseases. However, policy language will quite often exclude this type of disease, ” she told AFP.
– Ripple effects –
It is too early to determine overall costs to the insurance industry from the deadly coronavirus spreading out of China, whose death toll has now surpassed that of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS) outbreak in 2002-03.
The reinsurance market at Lloyd’ s of London has not seen any untoward activity from traditional insurers looking to hedge their exposure to risks arising from this outbreak, two sources in the underwriting trade said.
But even if they are not covered for communicable diseases specifically, companies will be checking the fine print as ripple effects flow through their China operations and global supply chains, following Beijing’ s decision to quarantine entire cities.
As with SARS and other pandemics of recent years such as swine flu, Zika and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS), the industry will be “ paying very close attention to this ”, Association of British Insurers spokesman Malcolm Tarling said.
He cautioned individuals and companies: “ If someone travels ( to China) against government advice, then most policies will be invalidated. If you believe your trip is essential, you need to talk to your insurer first. ”
– Risk calculus –
The closest analogy is SARS, which first broke out in China in 2002 and led to a slew of disputes between companies and their insurance providers.
For the travel industry alone, the impact of SARS was estimated by the World Travel and Tourism Council at $ 30-50 billion.
But China’ s economy accounted for five percent of global gross domestic product then, compared to nearly a fifth today, according to World Bank data.
More Chinese now travel abroad than any other nationality, and they spend the most on average while away.
The number of infections from the new virus stands at more than 17,200, and the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency.
But health experts stress its mortality rate among patients is lower than for SARS.
In a blog, Risk Management Solutions noted that several sporting and cultural events have already been cancelled in China, “ and all risk stakeholders will be anxious over the number of months before 2019-nCoV ( the novel coronavirus) is contained ”.
– Specialist coverage –
Leading British insurer Aviva said customers need to have specific coverage for “ travel disruption ” as part of their policy to be sure of reimbursement for changes to their plans.
“ We’ re monitoring the situation closely, but so far the overwhelming majority of claims relate to customers who are travelling to and from China, ” an Aviva spokeswoman said.
Allianz of Germany said the first port of call for individuals suffering disruption should be their airline or travel agency, rather than their insurer.
The company said the outbreak was “ clearly a very urgent alert ” but at this stage, normal terms and conditions of insurance contracts applied.
For airlines and other companies in the firing line, communicable diseases will typically only be covered if they have taken out specialist coverage.
But that would come at a cost that probably outweighs the risk-benefit return.
“ Traditional insurance can’ t cover everything and non-traditional insurance will tend to carry a significant cost and require a thorough process to determine what an individual company needs, ” Franks at Marsh said.
“ It will be a very bespoke product. ”
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Chinese cities locked down far from virus epicentre | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Two more cities in China's eastern province of Zhejiang have restricted the movement of residents over fears of the spread of the coronavirus, far from the epicentre of the health emergency.
The city of Taizhou and three Hangzhou districts -- including the area home to the main office of Chinese tech giant Alibaba -- will only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said.
The areas between them account for more than nine million people.
Taizhou -- 850 kilometres from the epicentre in Hubei province -- will also suspend 95 train services into the city from Tuesday.
In addition, all residential communities must only keep one entrance open and residents must present ID each time they come in and out, according to a statement on Taizhou's government's official WeChat account.
Landlords were also forbidden from renting property to people from `` severely affected areas such as Hubei '' if they had travelled to their hometowns recently, it added.
In the Hangzhou districts, additional measures included mandatory mask wearing and compulsory ID and temperature checks.
The latest restrictions follow similar measures announced Sunday in the Zhejiang city of Wenzhou, which has a population of nine million people.
The city has restricted the movement of residents and closed roads.
Zhejiang province has confirmed 829 cases -- the highest number outside central Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak which has claimed 425 lives.
Two more cities in China’ s eastern province of Zhejiang have restricted the movement of residents over fears of the spread of the coronavirus, far from the epicentre of the health emergency.
The city of Taizhou and three Hangzhou districts — including the area home to the main office of Chinese tech giant Alibaba — will only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said.
The areas between them account for more than nine million people.
Taizhou — 850 kilometres from the epicentre in Hubei province — will also suspend 95 train services into the city from Tuesday.
In addition, all residential communities must only keep one entrance open and residents must present ID each time they come in and out, according to a statement on Taizhou’ s government’ s official WeChat account.
Landlords were also forbidden from renting property to people from “ severely affected areas such as Hubei ” if they had travelled to their hometowns recently, it added.
In the Hangzhou districts, additional measures included mandatory mask wearing and compulsory ID and temperature checks.
The latest restrictions follow similar measures announced Sunday in the Zhejiang city of Wenzhou, which has a population of nine million people.
The city has restricted the movement of residents and closed roads.
Zhejiang province has confirmed 829 cases — the highest number outside central Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak which has claimed 425 lives.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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New warning issued over processed red meat consumption | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The research is from Northwestern University and it represents the one of the largest studies yet conducted into red and processed meat consumption. Data was collected over the course of three decades, based on questionnaires completed by 29,682 U.S. citizens, describing their diet and overall health on a regular basis.
The headline finding from the research is that people who eat two servings of red meat, processed meat or poultry each week have a 3 to 7 percent increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, consuming two servings of red meat or processed meat -weekly is linked with a 3 percent greater risk of all causes of early death.
According to lead researcher Dr. Norrina Allen these differences may not seem very large, but these differences will affect millions of people worldwide. It is for these reasons that Dr. Allen says “ it’ s worth trying to reduce red meat and processed meat like pepperoni, bologna and deli meats. ”
She also adds that: “ Red meat consumption also is consistently linked to other health problems like cancer. ” Consequently, reducing red and processed meat consumption can help to avoid premature death. No real difference was attributed to poultry alone ( although the study did not assess for deep fat-fried sources of chicken which will contribute trans-fatty acids, and hence some ill-health effects). Also, there was no association between eating fish and cardiovascular disease or early mortality.
Instead the researcher recommends opting for diet rich in fish, seafood and plant-based sources of protein such as nuts and legumes ( such as peas and beans).
The new research has been reported to JAMA Internal Medicine and the research paper is titled “ Associations of Processed Meat, Unprocessed Red Meat, Poultry, or Fish Intake With Incident Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality. ”
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
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Alphabet earnings: A mixed bag ( Includes interview) | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Financial analysts were expecting $ 38.40 billion in revenue from Alphabet. However, the financial data provided to markets indicates that Alphabet missed on quarer 4 revenue targets, posting revenues of $ 37.57 billion.
In terms of where Alphabet’ s profits are coming from, at the top is Google Search which brings in $ 27,185 billion in sales. This is followed by YouTube advertising, which has contributed $ 4,717 billion to Alphabet’ s overall revenue share for the quarter. Such data indicates that spending on digital advertising shows no signs of slowing.
However, other areas in which Alphabet are investing in did less well, such as cloud computing along with other innovations.
To gain an insight into what the Alphabet figures are signalling, Digital Journal caught up with Haris Anwar, analyst at financial markets platform Investing.com.
Anwar explains that the figures issues can be interpreted from different perspectives: “ Alphabet’ s Q4 earnings are a mixed bag. While the top line revenue number has missed expectations, it beat on EPS estimates. ”
In terms of what is good, Anwar explains: “ The biggest positive is that, for the first time, investors are seeing the breakdown of Google’ s main revenue-generating units, such as its fast expanding cloud business. In Q4, Google’ s cloud sales are up 53 percent, while its YouTube business expanded more than 30 percent, both showing a strong trajectory. ”
However, the figures are not as positive as some were expecting. Here Anwar says: “ While the results won’ t awe the Street, they’ re far from a big disappointment for the tech giant. More transparency in the company’ s financial reporting will provide investors with a better insight into where Google stands in terms of competition and where it’ s facing competitive pressures. ”
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
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Disabled Chinese boy dies while father in virus quarantine | Hi, what are you looking for?
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A disabled boy has died after being left to fend for himself when his father was quarantined over the deadly new coronavirus in China's Hubei province.
Yan Cheng, who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, was abandoned at home when his father was isolated because of a fever.
The 17-year-old, who could not speak, walk or eat by himself, and whose mother died several years earlier, had no one to feed him or help him with daily life.
His father, Yan Xiaowen, was taken into quarantine on January 22, and diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus five days later.
He posted a desperate plea for help on social media, calling for someone to go and look after his son.
But the post, entitled `` An appeal for help from a father diagnosed with novel coronavirus '', came too late.
The teenager died on January 29, according to a statement by the Hongan county government.
`` Yan Xiaowen was unable to take care of Yan Cheng's daily life ( because of being in isolation)... so he entrusted his relatives, village cadres and village doctors to take care of Yan Cheng, '' the county government said.
The boy's death has cost senior local figures their jobs.
The local Communist Party secretary and mayor were fired because they had `` failed to fulfil their responsibilities '', officials said.
The son's cause of death had yet to be confirmed, they said.
News of the tragedy sparked an outpouring of rage and grief on social media, where authorities in Hubei have already been criticised for withholding information about the infection.
On Weibo, the hashtag `` The father of Hubei's cerebral palsy victim speaks out '' had been read 270 million times by Tuesday morning.
A hashtag about the mayor being fired had been viewed 66 million times.
`` I 'm so angry and sad, '' wrote one user. `` It's too disgusting. ''
More than 20,000 people in China have been infected by the coronavirus, with the death toll reaching 425.
The vast majority of infections and deaths have occurred in Hubei, where the virus is thought to have emerged late last year from a market selling wild animals and their meat.
More than two dozen countries have also reported infections, mostly people who had recently travelled to Hubei.
A disabled boy has died after being left to fend for himself when his father was quarantined over the deadly new coronavirus in China’ s Hubei province.
Yan Cheng, who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, was abandoned at home when his father was isolated because of a fever.
The 17-year-old, who could not speak, walk or eat by himself, and whose mother died several years earlier, had no one to feed him or help him with daily life.
His father, Yan Xiaowen, was taken into quarantine on January 22, and diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus five days later.
He posted a desperate plea for help on social media, calling for someone to go and look after his son.
But the post, entitled “ An appeal for help from a father diagnosed with novel coronavirus ”, came too late.
The teenager died on January 29, according to a statement by the Hongan county government.
“ Yan Xiaowen was unable to take care of Yan Cheng’ s daily life ( because of being in isolation) … so he entrusted his relatives, village cadres and village doctors to take care of Yan Cheng, ” the county government said.
The boy’ s death has cost senior local figures their jobs.
The local Communist Party secretary and mayor were fired because they had “ failed to fulfil their responsibilities ”, officials said.
The son’ s cause of death had yet to be confirmed, they said.
News of the tragedy sparked an outpouring of rage and grief on social media, where authorities in Hubei have already been criticised for withholding information about the infection.
On Weibo, the hashtag “ The father of Hubei’ s cerebral palsy victim speaks out ” had been read 270 million times by Tuesday morning.
A hashtag about the mayor being fired had been viewed 66 million times.
“ I’ m so angry and sad, ” wrote one user. “ It’ s too disgusting. ”
More than 20,000 people in China have been infected by the coronavirus, with the death toll reaching 425.
The vast majority of infections and deaths have occurred in Hubei, where the virus is thought to have emerged late last year from a market selling wild animals and their meat.
More than two dozen countries have also reported infections, mostly people who had recently travelled to Hubei.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Frenchman seeks pardon for father, guillotined in 1957 | Hi, what are you looking for?
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France's highest constitutional body began examining a complaint Tuesday from a Frenchman seeking a law change to allow a pardon for his father who was executed in 1957 for killing a policeman in an armed robbery.
The law in France, which abolished capital punishment in 1981, prohibits the `` legal rehabilitation '' of convicts who were put to death.
Gerard Fesch approached the Constitutional Council for a change in law to allow for a posthumous reprieve for his father Jacques Fesch, who became a devout Christian in jail.
Making the request all the more extraordinary is that Gerard Fesch never knew his father, having been given up by his mother shortly after he was born and growing up in foster care.
Jacques Fesch was sentenced to death on April 6, 1957 and executed on October 1 of that year, aged 27.
During a half year on death row, he turned to religion in a dramatic repentance that senior French Catholics today deem worthy of beatification.
Patrice Spinosi, one of Gerard Fesch's lawyers, said it was `` manifestly against the constitution '' that a person executed could not be considered for rehabilitation when any other condemned criminal had a right to ask.
He said he expected a `` strong '' and `` humane '' decision from the court.
The Council is to give its ruling on February 28.
- 'Engraved in my heart ' -
The guillotine, a vertical, framed device that carries out executions by beheading, was the official means of capital punishment in France from the French Revolution until the country's last execution in September 1977.
`` What I want is that history does not just remember the guillotine but that every person can repent and become better, '' Gerard Fesch, 65, told AFP about his campaign.
Gerard Fesch was 40 when he discovered who his father was, after a friend pointed out striking details in a magazine feature about Jacques Fesch's execution.
`` I could have very well stopped there. But I saw that he was interested in my existence, '' he said, insisting that his father was `` not a hooligan ''.
Just before being executed, Jacques Fesch wrote a letter to his `` son Gerard '' saying: `` May he know that even though he could not be my son my law, he is in the flesh and his name is engraved into my heart. ''
His paternity was legally recognised in 2007, and the next year Gerard took Fesch as his surname.
The aim is not to `` rejudge him '' but to find a kind of a pardon and place `` another stone in the fight against the death penalty, '' said Gerard Fesch.
France’ s highest constitutional body began examining a complaint Tuesday from a Frenchman seeking a law change to allow a pardon for his father who was executed in 1957 for killing a policeman in an armed robbery.
The law in France, which abolished capital punishment in 1981, prohibits the “ legal rehabilitation ” of convicts who were put to death.
Gerard Fesch approached the Constitutional Council for a change in law to allow for a posthumous reprieve for his father Jacques Fesch, who became a devout Christian in jail.
Making the request all the more extraordinary is that Gerard Fesch never knew his father, having been given up by his mother shortly after he was born and growing up in foster care.
Jacques Fesch was sentenced to death on April 6, 1957 and executed on October 1 of that year, aged 27.
During a half year on death row, he turned to religion in a dramatic repentance that senior French Catholics today deem worthy of beatification.
Patrice Spinosi, one of Gerard Fesch’ s lawyers, said it was “ manifestly against the constitution ” that a person executed could not be considered for rehabilitation when any other condemned criminal had a right to ask.
He said he expected a “ strong ” and “ humane ” decision from the court.
The Council is to give its ruling on February 28.
– ‘ Engraved in my heart’ –
The guillotine, a vertical, framed device that carries out executions by beheading, was the official means of capital punishment in France from the French Revolution until the country’ s last execution in September 1977.
“ What I want is that history does not just remember the guillotine but that every person can repent and become better, ” Gerard Fesch, 65, told AFP about his campaign.
Gerard Fesch was 40 when he discovered who his father was, after a friend pointed out striking details in a magazine feature about Jacques Fesch’ s execution.
“ I could have very well stopped there. But I saw that he was interested in my existence, ” he said, insisting that his father was “ not a hooligan ”.
Just before being executed, Jacques Fesch wrote a letter to his “ son Gerard ” saying: “ May he know that even though he could not be my son my law, he is in the flesh and his name is engraved into my heart. ”
His paternity was legally recognised in 2007, and the next year Gerard took Fesch as his surname.
The aim is not to “ rejudge him ” but to find a kind of a pardon and place “ another stone in the fight against the death penalty, ” said Gerard Fesch.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Canadian police on Saturday began clearing a key bridge of truckers protesting Covid-19 restrictions.
‘ Parallel Mothers’ follows two single mothers who meet by chance at the hospital and become unexpectedly intertwined as they both confront deep traumas.
The Swiss head to the polls Sunday to decide whether to ban almost all advertising of tobacco products.
`` Schroeder is a burden to Germany's foreign policy and to his old party, '' Der Spiegel weekly wrote.
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Worst-Performing EM ETFs of January | The month of January was marked by the outbreak of coronavirus in China and the way it spread to various other countries. Within about 10 days of reporting, the disease turned severe with confirmed cases and a rising death toll. The World Health Organization termed the virus attack a global health emergency.
No wonder, Chinese stocks suffered a lot with the Shanghai Composite Index losing about 8% on Feb 3, marking its biggest single-day decline for more than four years and shedding $ 420 billion from its value. The ripple effect obviously did not spare the peripheral emerging economies. As a result, January was the worst month since August for emerging-market stocks and currencies as selling pressure built up on the rising fear about coronavirus ( read: Is Coronavirus an `` Opportunity '' for Emerging Markets ETFs?).
MSCI emerging market ( EM) index closed out January with about 5% slump. The index has been on a downtrend for eight days in a row. “ With the number of deaths in mainland China overtaking the 2003 SARS epidemic and the number of cases infected reaching more than 17,000, it is unknown when this epidemic will come to an end, ” per the chief market strategist at FXTM. Not only in China, the pain accelerated in other parts of the EM space too. Russian manufacturing contracted for the ninth month in January.
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETFs that underperformed the most in January.
Pacer Emerging Markets Cash Cows 100 ETF ECOW – Down 9.6%
The underlying Pacer Emerging Markets Cash Cows 100 Index uses an objective, rules-based methodology to provide exposure to large and mid-capitalization companies in emerging markets with high free cash flow yields. The fund yields about 8.72% annually.
Invesco Strategic Emerging Markets ETF ISEM – Down 9.3%
The underlying Invesco Strategic Emerging Markets Index measures the performance of high-quality, large-sized emerging market companies. It yields about 2.45% annually.
KraneShares MSCI One Belt One Road ETF OBOR – Down 8.4%
The underlying MSCI Global China Infrastructure Exposure Index looks to identify potential beneficiaries of the One Belt One Road initiative based on how their geography, revenues and sector attributes align with the broad theme. Countries that may benefit from the OBOR initiative are the likes of China, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and Israel.
Global X SuperDividend Emerging Markets ETF SDEM – Down 8.4%
The underlying MSCI Emerging Markets Top 50 Dividend Index tracks the performance of 50 equally weighted companies that rank among the highest dividend-yielding equity securities in emerging markets. The fund yields 7.02% annually.
Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index ETF FNDE – Down 8.3%
The underlying Russell RAFI Emerging Markets Large Company Index ( Net) ranks companies on the Russell Emerging Markets Index by measures of fundamental size and tracks the performance of those whose fundamental scores are in the top 87.5% of the Russell Emerging Markets Index. It yields 3.77% annually.
WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund DEM – Down 8.3%
The WisdomTree Emerging Markets High Dividend Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of the highest dividend-yielding stocks selected from the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index. The fund yields 5.21% annually.
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Click to get this free report Global X MSCI SuperDividend Emerging Markets ETF ( SDEM): ETF Research Reports Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index ETF ( FNDE): ETF Research Reports WisdomTree Emerging Markets High Dividend ETF ( DEM): ETF Research Reports KraneShares MSCI One Belt One Road ETF ( OBOR): ETF Research Reports Invesco RAFI Strategic Emerging Markets ETF ( ISEM): ETF Research Reports Pacer Emerging Markets Cash Cows 100 ETF ( ECOW): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report | business |
Q4 Earnings Fail to Impress Transport ETFs | The transportation sector has been affected by the outbreak of coronavirus, which is already turning for the worse into a widespread pandemic. Fourth-quarter earnings hitherto released also don’ t paint a rosy picture ( read: Wining & Losing ETF Areas on Coronavirus Outbreak).Total earnings accounting for 75% of the sector’ s market capitalization have been reported so far. The bottom line is down 8% on no revenue growth. Earnings and revenue beat ratio came in at 50% each as most industry players managed to surpass on either earnings or revenues and a few on both counts.For a better understanding, let’ s delve into the results of some well-known industry players: Transportation Earnings in FocusThe world's largest package delivery company United Parcel Service UPS beat on the bottom line but missed on revenues. Earnings of $ 2.11 were a penny ahead of the consensus mark while the top line of $ 20.57 billion was marginally below the estimated $ 20.58 billion. For 2020, the company expects earnings per share in the range of $ 7.76- $ 8.06.Major railroads Union Pacific UNP, Kansas City Southern KSU and Norfolk Southern Corp NSC posted a mixed bag. Union Pacific missed on earnings by a penny but beat on revenues by $ 47 million while Kansas City surpassed on earnings by a penny and missed on revenues by $ 5 million. Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern’ s earnings came in at 26 cents, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate while revenues were on par with the consensus mark ( see: all the Industrials ETFs here).U.S. airlines Delta Air Lines DAL and United Continental UAL delivered better-than-expected results. Earnings per share at Delta and United Continental trumped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 30 cents and 3 cents, respectively. Revenues of $ 11.44 billion for Delta and $ 10.9 billion for United Continental were above the consensus estimate of $ 11.34 billion and $ 10.89 billion, respectively. Delta projects earnings per share guidance of $ 6.75- $ 7.75 for 2020 while United Continental expects the same in the range of $ 11- $ 13. Last but not the least, leading trucking carrier J.B. Hunt JBHT missed on earnings by 17 cents per share and its revenues of $ 2.45 billion fell slightly short of the consensus mark of $ 2.454 billion.ETFs in FocusMixed results coupled with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak induced a dismal trading scenario for the transport ETFs over the past 10 days. iShares Transportation Average ETF IYT, SPDR S & P Transportation ETF XTN and First Trust Nasdaq Transportation ETF FTXR shed 6.1%, 5.2% and 3.2% of share value, respectively, in the same time frame. All these products have a Zacks ETF Rank # 4 ( Sell).IYTThe fund tracks the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index, giving investors exposure to a small basket of 20 securities. The in-focus seven firms make up for a combined 49.4% share. From a sector perspective, railroads, and air freight & logistics take the largest share with 36.7% and 21.8% share each while airlines and trucking round off the next two spots with double-digit exposure each. The fund accumulated $ 521.2 million in AUM and sees a solid trading volume of around 211,000 shares a day. It charges 42 bps in annual fees.XTNThis fund tracks the S & P Transportation Select Industry Index, holding 43 stocks in its basket. The in-focus firms account for not more than 3% share each. Further, 37.1% of the portfolio is dominated by trucking while airlines takes around one-fourth share. With AUM of $ 117.8 million, the fund charges 35 bps in fees per year from investors and trades in a lower volume of around 12,000 shares a day ( read: Top ETF Stories of January 2020).FTXRThis fund offers exposure to the 30 most-liquid U.S. transportation securities based on volatility, value and growth by tracking the Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index. The in-focus seven firms represent a combined 30.7% share. Airlines takes the top spot at 34.7% while ground freight & logistics, auto & truck manufacturers as well as auto, truck & motorcycle parts round off the next three. FTXR amassed $ 1.2 million in its asset base and charges 60 bps in annual fees. Average trading volume amounts to meager 1,000 shares.Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free > >
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Delta Air Lines, Inc. ( DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report United Airlines Holdings Inc ( UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report Union Pacific Corporation ( UNP): Free Stock Analysis Report Kansas City Southern ( KSU): Free Stock Analysis Report Norfolk Southern Corporation ( NSC): Free Stock Analysis Report J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. ( JBHT): Free Stock Analysis Report SPDR S & P Transportation ETF ( XTN): ETF Research Reports iShares Transportation Average ETF ( IYT): ETF Research Reports United Parcel Service, Inc. ( UPS): Free Stock Analysis Report First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF ( FTXR): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report | business |
The Coronavirus May Make Us Think Twice About Business Travel. That's a Good Thing | With less than eight weeks to go before I have my third baby, I 'm taking a break from business travel, which means forgoing speaking opportunities, missing conferences, and moving some in-person meetings to video calls.
Coincidentally, I 'm not the only one thinking twice about nonessential business trips: Companies like Google and Amazon are restricting business travel to China because of the coronavirus, officially called the 2019 Novel Coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV). Depending on how this virus spreads, it may affect travel to other countries as well.
How much of a threat the coronavirus is internationally remains up for debate. You can use this moment to reconsider your company's business travel policies, though -- there are plenty of other reasons why requiring employees to get on a plane can be more harmful than beneficial.
Coronavirus aside, there are a lot of germs your employees can pick up in all that recirculating air. That means getting on a plane can lead to lost productivity in the form of sick days. According to a recent report, sick days alone cost U.S. employers `` 60 cents for every dollar employers spend on health care benefits. '' Not to mention that even without sickness, the jet lag itself is exhausting.
Talent is likely one of your biggest assets as an employer, so keeping that talent healthy and rested has a direct impact on your results. It's not just good to care about your employees ' health; it's also good business.
Asking employees with kids to travel puts a burden on them and their families. For employees without partners, finding and affording overnight child care for multiple days can range from challenging to impossible.
Even for parent employees who have support, business travel means precious time away from their children. At my company Winnie, one of our core values is work-life balance. We have found this value not only helps us attract talent, it also helps us retain employees.
As a leader you need to be thinking about the impact you're having not just on yourself and your company but also on the world. Airplane emissions are increasingly harmful for the environment -- a recent study concluded that `` the rapid growth in plane emissions could mean that by 2050, aviation could take up a quarter of the world's carbon budget. ''
Flying isn't just having a negative impact on the carbon budget. It's also impacting your real budget. Traveling can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per trip. Compare that with a videoconference that is free or nearly free. For small companies, this cost is meaningful, and for larger companies, the cost adds up over multiple employees.
There are plenty of benefits to reducing your company's reliance on air travel. It shouldn't take a global health crisis to make us question our business travel policies and take a hard look at whether the benefits are worth the cost.
As for me, my reduction in air travel during pregnancy and post-birth has never had any noticeable negative effect on my business. I can focus on local speaking opportunities, and have videoconference meetings that are just as effective as in-person ones. In addition, by limiting travel as a company, we are able to save money and have better work-life balance and overall health -- all things that have helped us build a sustainable company for the past four years and counting. | business |
Baricitinib as potential treatment for 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease | Given the scale and rapid spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV) acute respiratory disease, there is an immediate need for medicines that can help before a vaccine can be produced. Results of rapid sequencing of 2019-nCoV, coupled with molecular modelling based on the genomes of related virus proteins,1Gruber CC Steinkellner G Wuhan coronavirus 2019-nCoV—what we can find out on a structural bioinformatics level.https: //innophore.com/2019-ncov/Date: Jan 23, 2020Date accessed: February 3, 2020Google Scholar have suggested a few compounds that are likely to be effective, including the anti-HIV lopinavir plus ritonavir combination.
BenevolentAI's knowledge graph is a large repository of structured medical information, including numerous connections extracted from scientific literature by machine learning.2Segler MHS Preuss M Waller P Planning chemical syntheses with deep neural networks and symbolic AI.Nature. 2018; 555: 604-610Crossref PubMed Scopus ( 509) Google Scholar Together with customisations bespoke to 2019-nCoV, we used BenevolentAI to search for approved drugs that could help, focusing on those that might block the viral infection process. We identified baricitinib, which is predicted to reduce the ability of the virus to infect lung cells.
Most viruses enter cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis. The receptor that 2019-nCoV uses to infect lung cells might be ACE2, a cell-surface protein on cells in the kidney, blood vessels, heart, and, importantly, lung AT2 alveolar epithelial cells ( figure). These AT2 cells are particularly prone to viral infection.3Zhao Y Zhao Z Wang Y et al.Single-cell RNA expression profiling of ACE2, the putative receptor of Wuhan 2019-nCov.BioRxiv. 2020; ( published online Jan 26.) DOI: https: //doi.19985Google Scholar One of the known regulators of endocytosis is the AP2-associated protein kinase 1 ( AAK1). Disruption of AAK1 might, in turn, interrupt the passage of the virus into cells and also the intracellular assembly of virus particles.4Lu R Zhao X Li J et al.Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding.Lancet. 2020; ( published online Jan 30.) https: //doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736 ( 20) 30251-8Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus ( 4636) Google ScholarFigureThe BenevolentAI knowledge graphShow full captionThe BenevolentAI knowledge graph integrates biomedical data from structured and unstructured sources. It is queried by a fleet of algorithms to identify new relationships to suggest new ways of tackling disease. 2019-nCoV=2019 novel coronavirus. AAK1=AP-2 associated kinase 1. GAK=cyclin g-associated kinase. JAK1/2=janus kinase 1/2.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download ( PPT)
The BenevolentAI knowledge graph integrates biomedical data from structured and unstructured sources. It is queried by a fleet of algorithms to identify new relationships to suggest new ways of tackling disease. 2019-nCoV=2019 novel coronavirus. AAK1=AP-2 associated kinase 1. GAK=cyclin g-associated kinase. JAK1/2=janus kinase 1/2.
Of 378 AAK1 inhibitors in the knowledge graph, 47 have been approved for medical use and six inhibited AAK1 with high affinity. These included a number of oncology drugs such as sunitinib and erlotinib, both of which have been shown to inhibit viral infection of cells through the inhibition of AAK1.5Pu SY Xiao F Schor S et al.Feasibility and biological rationale of repurposing sunitinib and erlotinib for dengue treatment.Antiviral Res. 2018; 155: 67-75Crossref PubMed Scopus ( 53) Google Scholar However, these compounds bring serious side-effects, and our data infer high doses to inhibit AAK1 effectively. We do not consider these drugs would be a safe therapy for a population of sick and infected people.
By contrast, one of the six high-affinity AAK1-binding drugs was the janus kinase inhibitor baricitinib, which also binds the cyclin G-associated kinase, another regulator of endocytosis. Because the plasma concentration of baricitinib on therapeutic dosing ( either as 2 mg or 4 mg once daily) is sufficient to inhibit AAK1, we suggest it could be trialled, using an appropriate patient population with 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease, to reduce both the viral entry and the inflammation in patients, using endpoints such as the MuLBSTA score, an early warning model for predicting mortality in viral pneumonia.7Chen N Zhou M Dong X et al.Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study.Lancet. 2020; ( published online Jan 29.) https: //doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736 ( 20) 30211-7Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus ( 8384) Google Scholar
This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on June 18, 2020
This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on June 18, 2020
JS is editor-in-chief of Oncogene. JS has previously sat on a number of scientific advisory boards, including BenevolentAI, and has consulted with Lansdowne partners, Vitruvian, and Social Impact Capital; he now sits on the Board of Directors for BB Biotech Healthcare Trust and chairs Xerion Healthcare. All other authors are employees of BenevolentAI. Events in relation to the 2019-nCoV outbreak are evolving rapidly, and we make our initial thoughts available in this Correspondence in good faith and to assist in the global response. Our early investigations and suggestions require further detailed work and analysis and should not be relied on as constituting any kind of medical or other advice or recommendation.
Department of ErrorRichardson P, Griffin I, Tucker C, et al. Baricitinib as potential treatment for 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease. Lancet 2020; 395: e30–31—In this Correspondence, the authors Michael Rawling and Edward Savory ( BenevolentAI, London, UK) were mistakenly omitted. This correction has been made to the online version as of June 18, 2020. Full-Text PDF | tech |
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