Thursday, April 23, 2020

THURSDAY APRIL 23 - CORONAVIRUS GLOBAL UPDATE

Cyprus Mail 23 April 2020 - Reuters News Agency


More than 2,646,247 people have been infected across the world and over 184,352 have died but at the same time 723,692 people have recovered.
THE PANDEMIC IN NUMBERS
INFECTED CASESDEATHS DUE TO THE VIRUS
USA 849,092USA 47,681
SPAIN 208,389ITALY 25,085
ITALY 187,327SPAIN 21,717
FRANCE 159,877FRANCE 21,340
GERMANY 150,648UK 18,100
CYPRUS 790CYPRUS 13
All the latest news in brief as it happens
11.51 Vietnam says accusations it hacked China for virus information ‘baseless’

A report which said Vietnamese government-linked hackers had attempted to break into Chinese state organisations at the centre of Beijing’s effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak is “baseless”, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye said the hackers had tried to compromise the personal and professional email accounts of staff at China’s Ministry of Emergency Management and the government of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the pandemic.
“The accusation is baseless,” foreign ministry spokesman Ngo Toan Thang told a regular news conference. “Vietnam forbids all cyber attacks, which should be denounced and strictly dealt with by law”.
11.36 EU official: Aiming to launch EU recovery fund at start of 2021 in best case scenario
The European Union is aiming to launch a recovery fund on Jan 1, 2021 in the best case scenario, an EU official said on Thursday.
Spain has proposed the creation of a fund of up to 1.5 trillion euros ($1.62 trillion) financed by perpetual debt.
11.34 Spanish hotels see 66% visitor slump in March amid epidemic
The number of foreign visitors staying in Spanish hotels slumped almost 66% in March to 1.19 million as the coronavirus epidemic forced the tourism-dependent country to impose one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe, data showed on Thursday.
The world’s second-most visited nation, where tourism accounts for 12% of gross domestic product, introduced a state of emergency in mid-March. Hotels were ordered to gradually shut down form March 19 until complete closure on March 26.
The National Statistics Institute said the occupancy rate nearly halved in March to 29% from 53% a year ago. The overall number staying in hotels fell 65% to 2.63 million people, leading to a cumulative drop of 22% since the start of the year.
11.32 Finland PM to work from home as precaution against coronavirus
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin will work from home from Thursday as a precaution against possible exposure to the coronavirus, her office said.
The decision was made after Marin was told a close contact of someone who had been working at her official residence last week had tested positive on Wednesday.
“The possibility of exposure is extremely low,” the office wrote in a statement, adding Marin was symptomless and feeling well.
11.21 Saudi Arabia gives three-month loan repayment delay for citizens – central bank
Saudi Arabia’s Monetary Authority has instructed the kingdom’s banks to delay by three months the payment of instalments due on all financing facilities extended to Saudi employees, without additional fees, the central bank said on Twitter on Thursday.
The measure is part of a government economic package to help businesses and workers cope with the fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak, it said
11.08 Austrian economic output to fall 5.2% this year
Austrian economic output will fall 5.2% this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, economic think-tank Wifo predicted on Thursday, saying the country’s loosening of its lockdown should provide some impetus in the second quarter.
“In a more pessimistic scenario, a greater fall in international growth in 2020 was assumed. Provided economic aid is increased accordingly in line with the government’s ‘whatever it takes’ announcement, a fall in GDP (gross domestic product) of 7-1/2 percent … is expected,” Wifo, which compiles GDP data for the government, said in a statement.
11.06  Philippines nears 7,000 coronavirus cases, reports 16 new deaths
The Philippines’ health ministry on Thursday reported 16 new coronavirus deaths and 271 confirmed infections, ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision whether to lift or extend quarantine measures on the country’s main island.
In a bulletin, the health ministry said total deaths have increased to 462 while infections have risen to 6,981. But 29 more patients have recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 722.
11.04 “Dreadful” that Britain can’t get more people tested for COVID-19 – minister
It is dreadful that more Britons are not getting tested for COVID-19, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said on Thursday, saying the authorities were putting a phenomenal effort into meeting targets.
Britain has pledged to carry out 100,000 COVID-19 tests a day by the end of the month. But fewer that 23,000 people were tested in the latest daily figures published on Wednesday.
10.46 Germany should be ready to pay more into EU budget, Merkel says
Germany should be ready to pay more into the European Union budget, which needs to include an economic programme aimed at supporting an upswing in the next two years, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.
“Our consultations today won’t yet be about be nailing down details or deciding on the extent but one thing is already clear: In the spirit of solidarity, we should be prepared – over a limited period of time – to make very different, meaning much higher contributions to the EU budget,” Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
10.40 Russia’s new coronavirus cases fall for third day running as total passes 62,000
Russia recorded 4,774 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, a fall in the number of daily new cases for the third day running, bringing its nationwide tally to 62,773, the Russian coronavirus crisis response centre said on Thursday.
Forty-two people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 555, it said.
10.35 Singapore confirms 1,037 new COVID-19 cases
Singapore’s health ministry said it had preliminarily confirmed 1,037 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the Southeast Asian city-state’s total infections to 11,178.
The health ministry said the vast majority of the new cases were migrant workers residing in dormitories, many of which are under government-ordered quarantine due to mass outbreaks.
10.31 WHO is indispensable partner for Germany, Merkel says
The World Health Organisation is an indispensable partner for Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, distancing her government from President Donald Trump’s pause in U.S. funding to the global body.
“The WHO is an indispensable partner and we support it in its mandate,” Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
10.29 China to donate additional $30 million to WHO for COVID-19
China is to donate an additional $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the global fight against COVID-19, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday.
Hua said on Twitter the donation was aimed in particular at strengthening developing countries’ health systems and added that China had already donated $20 million to the WHO in March.
10.14 European shares gain ahead of business activity data
European stock markets inched higher on Thursday following a bunch of better-than-expected quarterly earnings reports, even as investors braced for worsening business activity data with the coronavirus outbreak battering the global economy.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.3% at 0705 GMT, recovering for a second straight day after a historic collapse in oil prices sparked a selloff at the start of the week.
Kicking off the first-quarter earnings season for the big European lenders, Credit Suisse Group AG posted a 75% jump in profit, but cautioned the pandemic could impact performance in coming quarters. Its shares rose 2.5%.
9.50 French clashes this week unlikely to lead to scenes like 2005 riots – minister
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Thursday that he did not think that this week’s outbreak of violent clashes in French housing estates would result in scenes similar to the 2005 riots that broke out throughout the country.
“We are not in this sort of scenario,” Castaner told BFM TV.
Stringent restrictions on public movements ordered by President Emmanuel Macron to tackle the coronavirus have exacerbated tensions in the low-income neighbourhoods around the capital, with clashes having broken out this week.
9.44 UK launches massive bond programme for next 3 months
Britain’s government plans to sell more government bonds over the next three months than it had previously planned for the entire financial year to fund a surge in public spending in the face of the coronavirus crisis.
The UK Debt Management Office said on Thursday it planned to issue 180 billion pounds ($222.43 billion) of bonds between May and July.
Previously, it had been planning to sell 156.1 billion pounds of bonds between April 2020 and March 2021.
9.40 Coronavirus triggers record losses for Swiss central bank
The Swiss National Bank reported a record quarterly loss of 38.2 billion Swiss francs ($39.34 billion) on Thursday as the coronavirus crisis pummelled the value of its foreign currency holdings and shares.
The central bank’s holdings of equities lost 31.9 billion francs in value as the economic impact of the virus sent markets into a tailspin while it also suffered exchange rate-related losses of 17.1 billion francs as the appreciation in the franc reduced the value of its foreign stocks and bonds.
The loss is the biggest quarterly fall suffered by the SNB since it was founded in 1907. Economists at UBS had forecast a loss of 30 billion francs.
9.22 UK PM Johnson sure to be back at work soon, minister says
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recovering well from grave COVID-19 complications and will be back at work soon, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said on Thursday.
“He is also right now, as he is fully recovering, doing what we are asking people across the country to do, he is taking the advice of the medical experts and the doctors and doing as the doctors outlined him to do,” Lewis told Sky.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him back in full swing and in full grip of the reins as prime minister of the country. I’m sure he will be very soon, I am sure he will be very keen to get back but I think he is also doing the right thing.”
8.39 French lockdown still reducing economic activity by 35% 
A country-wide lockdown in France is still reducing economic activity by 35% from normal levels despite a slight pick-up in the industrial and construction sectors, the INSEE official statistics agency said on Thursday.
Setting those two sectors aside, the estimate suggests that activity has yet to gain any momentum since the lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak was first imposed in mid-March.
8.15 Half of German firms using shortened working hours due to coronavirus – Ifo
Half of German companies are using the government’s short-time work facility as most see a decline in revenues due to the coronavirus outbreak, a survey published by the Ifo economic institute on Thursday showed.
Short-time work is a form of state aid that allows employers to switch employees to shorter working hours during an economic downturn to keep them on the payroll. It has been widely used by industry, including Germany’s car sector.
Ifo said about 18% of companies surveyed said they wanted to lay off workers or not extend temporary contracts. Ifo said businesses expect restrictions on public life designed to slow the spread of the virus to last about four months.
7.52 Thailand reports 13 new coronavirus cases, one new death
Thailand reported 13 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and one more death, a 78-year-old woman who had other health complications.
Of the new cases, five were linked to previous cases and five had no known links.
Three other new cases were reported from the southern island of Phuket where the authorities are aggressively testing the population because the infection rate there is severe, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration.
7.41 Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 2,352 to 148,046 – RKI
Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 2,352 to 148,046, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday, marking a third consecutive day of new infections accelerating.
The reported death toll rose by 215 to 5,094, the tally showed.
7.01 U.N. chief warns against repressive measures amid coronavirus crisis
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday the coronavirus could give some countries an excuse to adopt repressive measures for reasons unrelated to the pandemic as he warned that the outbreak risks becoming a human rights crisis.
Guterres released a U.N. report highlighting how human rights should guide the response and recovery to the health, social and economic crisis gripping the world. He added that while the virus does not discriminate, its impacts do.
6.35 Pompeo: U.S. calls on China to permanently close wildlife wet markets
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States has called on China to permanently close its wildlife wet markets, citing links between those markets and zoonotic diseases.
The new coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has spread around the world killing over 180,000 people and infecting over 2.6 million
5.35 Australia says all WHO members should participate in a coronavirus inquiry
All members of the World Health Organization (WHO) should cooperate with a proposed independent review into the spread of coronavirus, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.
Morrison on Wednesday spoke with several world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump to canvass support for a review into the origins and spread of coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year.
Escalating his calls, Morrison said all members of the WHO should be obliged to participate in a review.
3.35 China reports 10 new coronavirus cases in mainland vs 30 a day earlier
Mainland China reported 10 new coronavirus cases as of the end of April 22, down from 30 a day earlier as the number of so-called imported cases involving travellers from overseas declined, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.
The commission said six of the new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Wednesday were imported, down from 23 a day earlier. The number of new asymptomatic patients, who are infected but do not show symptoms, also declined to 27 from 42 a day earlier.
3.28 Panama reports 171 new coronavirus cases – health ministry
Panama posted 171 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the country’s total to nearly 5,000 infected persons, the health ministry said.
Officials also confirmed three more deaths stemming from the 4,992 confirmed cases, raising Panama’s death toll from the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the virus to 144.
2.09 Germany agrees more measures to shield workers, companies from coronavirus impact
Germany’s coalition parties agreed further measures to shield workers and companies from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a document showed on Thursday.
The aid package includes higher state transfers for people in short-time work schemes, with the government covering up to 80% of the lost net income, according to the document agreed by senior members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.
The parties agreed to temporarily lower the tax burden for the catering industry through a reduced VAT rate of 7% and to give tax relief for small companies by simplifying loss carry forward.
1.55 Trump signs executive order suspending immigration
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the United States during the coronavirus outbreak.
“This would ensure that unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy opens,” Trump said at the daily coronavirus news briefing.
He said he signed the order just before the news briefing.
1.02 Global air traffic could drop by up to 1.2 billion passengers -ICAO
International air passenger traffic could drop by as many as 1.2 billion travellers, or two-thirds, by September 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic weighs on demand, the United Nations aviation agency said on Wednesday in a statement, citing projections.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimates that international capacity could drop by as much as two-thirds from previous forecasts for the first three quarters of 2020.
What happened on Wednesday, 22 April
EUROPE
  •  It may take European Union countries until the summer or even longer to agree on how exactly to finance aid to help economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic as major disagreements persist, a bloc official said.
  • The British government came under sustained pressure over its coronavirus response when members of parliament got their first major opportunity in a month to hold it to account.
  • French police will not shy away from enforcing a coronavirus lockdown in the high-rise Paris suburbs where unrest has erupted the past four nights, the interior minister said.
  • Relieved Spanish parents welcomed a decision allowing children out on short walks for the first time in more than a month as the government voted to extend Spain’s lockdown until May 9.
  • Ukraine extended strong quarantine measures till May 11.
  • The Kremlin called allegations about artificial origin of the new coronavirus groundless and unacceptable.
AMERICAS
  • U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hit out at Beijing again over the coronavirus outbreak, even as he welcomed China’s provision of essential medical supplies.
  • The head of the World Health Organization said he hoped the Trump administration would reconsider its suspension of funding, but that his main focus was on ending the pandemic.
  • Peru’s hospitals are struggling with a rapid rise in infections, with bodies being kept in hallways, masks repeatedly reused, and protests of medical workers concerned over their safety
  • The U.S. House of Representatives expects to pass a nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday.
  • Mexico will increase spending on social programs and infrastructure projects by $25.6 billion, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, in a delayed attempt to jump-start the coronavirus-hit economy.
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
  • Australia sought support for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in calls with the U.S. President and major powers, but France and Britain said now was the time to fight the virus, not to apportion blame.
  • Hackers working in support of the Vietnamese government have attempted to break into Chinese state organisations at the centre of Beijing’s effort to contain the outbreak, a U.S. cybersecurity firm said.
  • A northeastern city of 10 million people grappling with what is now China’s biggest outbreak further restricted inbound traffic on Wednesday.
  • More than 30 crew members on an Italian cruise ship docked in Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture have tested positive.
  • India suspended antibody tests because of concerns over reliability, health officials said
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
  •  Sixty-eight people, mostly staff, have come down with the coronavirus at a prison in the Moroccan city of Ouarzazate, prison authorities said, without reporting any deaths.
  • With just a few hundred ventilators and international aid slow to materialise, Sudan’s fledgling government knows it has an uphill battle against a coronavirus pandemic that has brought far richer countries to a standstill.
  • Zambia’s Chamber of Mines has urged the government to urgently engage with the sector and agree relief measures.
  • Iran reopened parks and recreational areas on Wednesday, pressing ahead with measures to ease its coronavirus curbs despite one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in the Middle East.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT


  •  A jump in the price of oil and the promise of more government stimulus to ease the economic pain inflicted by the pandemic helped calm global equity markets on Wednesday. [MKTS/GLOB}
  • Canada’s annual inflation rate tumbled to a near five-year low in March as gas prices plunged while analysts said the relevance of future data could be affected because of disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
  • The collapse in China’s economic activity has fanned calls for the government to hasten the roll out of fiscal stimulus, as ballooning unemployment threatens social stability.
  • Global crude steel production fell 6% to 147.1 million tonnes in March from a year earlier, World Steel Association data showed, as the coronavirus crisis forced the closure of furnaces.
  • Turkey’s central bank slashed its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 8.75% on Wednesday, more than expected. * Switzerland’s federal budget deficit could jump to around 6% of national output this year, its finance minister said on Wednesday.
  • Delta Air Lines Inc said it does not expect air travel to recover for two or three years and is working to halve its cash burn after posting its first quarterly loss in eight years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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