On Monday, David Abel spoke in a video update on Facebook about the mental strain of being quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan amid the coronavirus crisis. ‘It’s all getting to us now – not just me, other passengers as well. It’s the not-knowing factor that is the real challenge,’ he said. The British passenger, who published video diaries from the Diamond Princess, tested positive for the coronavirus, along with his wife, on Tuesday
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak
HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs worldwide as profits plunge
Bank warns of ‘meaningful’ job losses in UK and of impact of coronavirus outbreak in Asia
HSBC has said it will slash 35,000 jobs over three years as part of a major shake-up as it issued a warning over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in Asia.
The interim chief executive, Noel Quinn, confirmed on Tuesday that plans to cut $4.5bn (£3.5bn) worth of costs would involve slashing about 15% of the group’s global workforce. “We would expect our headcount to decrease from the current level of 235,000 to be closer to 200,000 in 2022,” Quinn said.
Continue reading...Apple warns of coronavirus causing iPhone shortages
Company hit by shutdown in China and says it will fail to meet quarterly revenue target
Apple has warned of global “iPhone supply shortages” resulting from its Chinese factories being shut because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Californian company told investors on Monday night it would fail to meet its quarterly revenue target of $63-67bn (£48-52bn) because of the “temporarily constrained” supply of iPhones and a dramatic drop in Chinese shoppers during the virus crisis. Apple did not provide a new forecast for its second-quarter revenue.
Continue reading...Japan’s economy heading for recession, and Germany wobbles
International trade slump and coronavirus outbreak combine to weaken consumer demand
Japan’s economy is heading for a recession this year after figures showed the world’s third largest economy slumped by an annual rate of 6.3% during the last quarter of 2019.
Germany, the world’s fourth largest economy, is also expected to stumble as the coronavirus epidemic and a slump in trade with China combine with weak consumer demand to drag growth lower.
Continue reading...Coronavirus updates: China’s second worst-hit city bans residents from leaving home – live news
People who flout new order in Xiaogan city in central Hubei face detention for 10 days as global death toll reaches 1,775. Follow live news and latest updates
Shares in China have posted strong gains after the country’s central bank cut the interest rate on its medium-term lending to try to cushion businesses from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. The bank also injected another 200bn yuan of liquidity into the system.
The move is expected to pave the way for a reduction in the country’s benchmark loan prime rate on Thursday, Reuters reports, to lower borrowing costs and ease financial strains on companies hit by the epidemic.
China CSI 300 erases Covid-19 slump.
Why?
* Short selling ban (in China this means the Gulag!)
* Funds need gov't approval to sell (prove an outflow)
* Record repo injections by the PBoC, rate cuts
* Xi - will cut taxes and record fiscal stimulus
Rally means all is good, right? pic.twitter.com/hCRUaEiHdZ
#PBOC injects 200 bn yuan liquidity via 1-year medium-term lending facility (MLF).
PBOC cut the rate on MLF to 3.15%, from 3.25% in the previous operation. https://t.co/EXAEiLHayq
A reporter is asking about Australians onboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship that docked in Cambodia last Thursday. An American passenger on that ship was subsequently diagnosed with Covid-19, after testing in Malaysia. The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne answers:
There were some Australians on the vessel Westerdam. 39 of those have remained in Phnom Penh after the ship finally docked. They have been provided with hotel accommodation in the capital.
Continue reading...Britons onboard cruise ship face extended coronavirus quarantine
Changes to Japanese procedure could mean two more weeks on the Diamond Princess
Britons could face two more weeks trapped onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship as Japan updates its quarantine procedure in an effort to halt the rapid spread of coronavirus among passengers.
Cruise ship guests received a letter on Sunday saying that while those who tested negative for the virus would be allowed to leave on Wednesday, anyone who shared a room with a passenger who tested positive would face another two weeks onboard, starting from the date they were separated from their cabin mate.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: 70 more cases on Japan cruise ship as China infections pass 68,000
US, Canada and Hong Kong offer citizens on Diamond Princess flights home as death toll inside China reaches 1,665
A further 70 people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 355, as three countries say they will fly their citizens on the ship home. It comes as China’s National Health Commission announced the death toll inside the country had risen to 1,665, with 68,500 infections.
The US embassy in Japan announced on Saturday that more than 400 US nationals would be flown home from the quarantined Diamond Princess, currently docked in the port of Yokohama, south of Tokyo.
Continue reading...Pressure grows on UK to rescue citizens from coronavirus-stricken ship
Passengers on Diamond Princess liner ‘disillusioned’ with government over lack of action
Pressure is growing on the British government to airlift citizens stranded on a cruise ship stricken by coronavirus, after a Chinese tourist in France became the first person to die from the disease in Europe.
The US announced late on Friday that it would be evacuating more than 400 nationals from the quarantined ship, which has had nearly 300 confirmed coronavirus cases, and British travellers called on their government to do the same.
Continue reading...Chinese tourist in France becomes Europe’s first coronavirus fatality
French health minister confirms death of man from virus that has killed more than 1,500 people
Europe has recorded its first coronavirus fatality, a Chinese tourist in France, it has been confirmed.
The death of the 80-year-old man, who was visiting Paris with his daughter when he was taken to hospital three weeks ago after falling ill, also marks the first coronavirus mortality outside Asia since the start of the outbreak.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: cases pass 66,000 as Beijing orders 14-day quarantine for returnees
Covid-19 cases pass 66,000 in China as residents in capital who flout new restrictions told they will be ‘held accountable under the law’
Beijing has ordered people returning to the city from holidays to quarantine themselves for 14 days to try to contain the coronavirus spread, as the death toll in China from the outbreak passed 1,500.
On Saturday, the country’s National Health Commission said 2,641 new cases were confirmed in the previous 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed infections across mainland China to 66,492. There were also 143 deaths in the 24 hours to midnight on Friday, taking total fatalities from the virus to 1,523.
Continue reading...Wuhan’s cat rescuer: the man saving pets abandoned during coronavirus outbreak – video
It is estimated that more than 30,000 pets have been left stranded after the Chinese government sealed off Wuhan following the coronavirus outbreak.
In response, people trapped in Wuhan have been volunteering and checking in on the animals whose owners are stuck outside the city. Here's Ye Jialin's story of helping those who are currently not allowed to return home
- Visual explainer: how the coronavirus spread across China and the world
- How to protect yourself from coronavirus
Coronavirus latest updates: China cuts death toll after ‘double-counting’ – live news
Statistical error led to more than 100 deaths being counted twice, national health commission says
A Channel 4 employee was taken to hospital to be tested for coronavirus on Thursday after being met at the channel’s London headquarters by health officials in protective clothing, it has emerged.
The person is understood to have been on holiday recently in China in the last month and had some concerns about feeling unwell. They are not a journalist and had not been to Wuhan, the Chinese region at the centre of the outbreak.
“On Thursday a member of staff at Channel 4 who had travelled to Asia within the last month felt unwell.”
“As a precautionary measure they decided to seek medical advice and, in line with the latest public health advice regarding the Coronavirus, they were taken to hospital for a precautionary test. We have informed our staff of this and continue to follow all the latest public health guidance.”
Singapore has reported nine new coronavirus cases – its biggest daily increase, according to the Straits Times. The new cases take Singapore’s virus tally to 67.
Six of the new cases are linked to the Grace Assembly of God church which is now the biggest cluster of cases in Singapore with 13 in total.
Coronavirus: 9 new cases confirmed in Singapore, 6 of these linked to Grace Assembly church which has become the biggest cluster https://t.co/eybB3Xrpwp
Continue reading...Cruise ship rejected by five countries over coronavirus fears docks in Cambodia – video
Passengers aboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship, which was turned away by five countries over coronavirus fears, were allowed to disembark in Cambodia on Friday.
After tests, no one onboard was found to be carrying the Covid-19 virus, and the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, personally greeted the passengers with handshakes and floral bouquets as they stepped off the ship on to a waiting bus
Continue reading...US expresses ‘disappointment’ in China’s response to coronavirus – video
Larry Kudlow, the National Economic Council director, said the US was 'disappointed' in the response of China to the coronavirus outbreak. He said it was a concern for the wellbeing of people in China, adding that the virus had been contained in the US. The senior White House official called on Beijing to be more transparent over its handling of the outbreak amid moves by Chinese authorities to expand 'wartime' measures to limit its spread
Continue reading...Coronavirus outbreak: senior US official accuses China of lack of transparency
Top White House official Larry Kudlow questions approach of Politburo as China brings in ‘wartime’ measures in more cities
A senior White House official has called on Beijing to be more transparent over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak as Chinese authorities expanded “wartime” measures to limit its spread.
“We are a little disappointed that we haven’t been invited in and we’re a little disappointed in the lack of transparency coming from the Chinese,” said Larry Kudlow, the director of the US National Economic Council.
Continue reading...Huge rise in coronavirus cases casts doubt over scale of epidemic
China reports 13,332 additional cases due to a change in how authorities are counting them
The true scale of the epidemic caused by the new coronavirus in Hubei province has been thrown into doubt after the Chinese authorities reported more than 13,300 extra cases going back over an unknown number of days or weeks.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the huge jump in cases in Hubei, bringing the total to more than 60,000 worldwide, was due to a change in the way Chinese authorities was counting them.
Continue reading...Geneva motor show organisers brace for coronavirus disruption
Key event in European automotive calendar could be under threat as crisis deepens
Carmakers are monitoring the development of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe amid concerns that a key motor show in Geneva could be affected.
The spread of the disease has forced the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress, a tech trade fair in Barcelona that had been expected to host more than 100,000 delegates from about 200 countries.
Continue reading...Burmese anger grows over pornographic video shot at Buddhist site
Italian couple’s footage against backdrop of Myanmar’s ‘holy land’ provokes outrage
Outrage is growing in Myanmar after the emergence of a 12-minute pornographic video shot in Bagan, the country’s best-known tourist spot and Unesco heritage site featuring thousands of revered Buddhist pagodas.
The video was posted on PornHub by users who described themselves as a 23-year-old Italian couple.
Continue reading...China’s new Hong Kong chief a hardliner known for crusade against Christian churches
Xia Baolong is a long-time ally of Xi Jinping who represents a sign Beijing wants to exert more control over the city
A hardliner notorious for the demolition of thousands of Christian crosses on churches has been appointed the new head of China’s office in Hong Kong, a sign that Beijing aims to further tighten control over the semi-autonomous city, analysts say.
Xia Baolong, an ally of president Xi Jinping, has been appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office under the State Council, replacing Zhang Xiaoming, State media reported on Thursday. His appointment came amid a purge of officials in Hubei, the province wracked by the coronavirus outbreak.
Zhang has become the most senior Beijing-appointed official to lose his job in the wake of months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. The city has been roiled by more than seven months of protests over an extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.
Related: Coronavirus: China purges regional leaders hours after spike in deaths and new cases
Continue reading...Coronavirus: WHO scrambling to get details of new cases – live news
Latest figures from China show big jump amid a change in how cases are counted
- China purges regional leaders hours after spike in deaths
- London coronavirus patient turned up at hospital in Uber
- 800 Pakistan students plead for help to escape Wuhan
- Share your experiences
As our story makes clear, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the huge jump in cases in Hubei – bringing the total to more than 60,000 worldwide – was caused by a change in the way Chinese authorities were counting them.
The WHO is now working hard to get further details on when the extra cases of “Covid-19” occurred to paint a true picture of the development of the epidemic in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei.
Reuters reports that Donald Trump has praised China over its handling of the outbreak, adding that the United States was working closely with Beijing.
“I think they’ve handled it professionally, and I think they’re extremely capable,” Trump, who has previously been at loggerheads with the Chinese authorities over trade issues, said in a podcast broadcast on iHeart Radio on Thursday.
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