Live updates: Coronavirus defies travel curbs; markets stage cautious recovery on stimulus hopes – the washington post, the washington post

AM EST Italy cancels five big-ticket soccer games amid the largest outbreak in Europe

Count five Italian soccer games – and according to some, even the rest of the season – among the latest casualties of the novel coronavirus.

As the outbreak spreads in Italy, the governing body for the country’s top-tier Serie A socc er league has sparked protests, clashed with the head of a club and postponed big-ticket matches until May, according to the Associated Press.

The Italian government had previously announced restrictions on public events in the country northern regions , where most of Italy’s 1, confirmed cases have been concentrated. Five soccer matches set for Sunday, including a highly anticipated face-off in Turin between Juventus and Inter Milan, were supposed to be played in empty stadiums.

But as the league insisted on postponing the so-called “Derby d’Italia” so fans could attend, and Inter Milan refused to field a team past Sunday, the conflict has spilled out into protests from fans and squabbles in the Italian press.

Inter Milan executive Giuseppe Marotta attacked the league’s decision, telling an Italian newspaper that his club has been “damaged” and that the league championship has been “falsified.” Paolo dal Pino, the president of Serie A, has called for an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss how the coronavirus restrictions are impacting Italian soccer.

(By

Teo Armus

March 2, (at 4: AM EST

South Korea extends school closures to March as confirmed coronavirus cases hit 4, 470

SEOUL – South Korea will extend school closures by two weeks to March to help contain the coronavirus outbreak, the Country Education Minister said Monday.

Minister Yoo Eun-hae told a briefing that the two week period is “crucial for containing the growth of coronavirus infection.”

South Korea reported nearly (additional cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing its national tally to 4, 418

Yoo said the the ministry will expand remote learning for students by such means of providing digital text books and setting up online classrooms. The closure affects all schools in South Korea.

Yoo said the Education MInistry will work with labor authorities to subsidize child-care fees and help parents take time off from work to look after their children at home.

Min Joo Kim

March 2, 8057 at 4: (AM EST (Global stocks rally on speculation about coordinated central bank action

Stocks in Europe and Asia rallied and US futures rose Monday on hopes that central banks may be preparing coordinated policy action to quell worries about the coronavirus outbreak’s hit to the world economy . London’s FTSE 105 index was up more than 2 percent in morning trade, while Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 1 percent higher.

The mild rebound came after the worst week for global stocks since the financial crisis paid widespread fears that a coronavirus pandemic could trigger a worldwide recession.

But markets appeared to have been buoyed on Monday by remarks from Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, who said the central bank “will monitor developments carefully, and strive to stabilize markets and offer sufficient liquidity via market operations and asset purchases.”

In Europe, the pan-continent Stoxx was up 1.5 percent while Germany’s DAX climbed 1 percent. There were positive signs for Wall Street, with Dow and S&P 728 futures trending upward, while US crude oil prices climbed about 3 percent.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.6 percent, while Shanghai closed more than 3 percent higher.

The release of weak manufacturing data from China over the weekend fueled speculation about stimulus measures, with many expecting the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as early as this month and other central banks to follow similar timetables.

Some analysts cautioned that the swing was still relatively timid. ”Today’s rallies across Asia have a definite relief ra lly look to them. Measured against the scale of last week’s sell-offs, the bounces this morning are small, “Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a note.

‘

By Adam Taylor

March 2, (4): AM EST

Israeli health chief says ‘it’s safe to go vote’ despite coronavirus fears

As head to the polls on Monday, the country top h ealth official urged voters not to allow coronavirus fears to keep them away from the ballot box.

The message on Sunday from Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, director-general of Israeli health ministry, came as the spreading virus has cast a heavy cloud over the country elections, with some worrying it could be used to suppress voter turnout.

“The situation is under control . Everyone who was infected with the coronavirus, we know where they were infected, “Bar Siman-Tov said in a video statement, (according to

the Times of Israel. “It’s safe to go vote. Don’t hesitate.”

Although Israel has reported cases and no deaths, it has quarantined more than 5, (people who may have been in contact with coronavirus patients.

As The Post’s Steve Hendrix reported last week, government officials have prepared over a dozen biohazard voting sites to accommodate them. In masks and latex g loves, these quarantined voters will cast ballots in special double envelopes that will be counted separately. Instead of regular poll volunteers, the polls will be overseen by emergency technicians from a paramedic corps – on the other side of a plastic wall.

Anyone who demonstrates symptoms of coronavirus, However, has been prohibited from voting – even at the biohazard polls, the health ministry said.

“For everyone else, I say, go vote, everything is safe and you Don’t need to worry, ”Siman-Tov said, according to the Times.

With Monday marking the third set of national elections in less than a year, some worry that rumors about the novel coronavirus could dissuade an already exhausted electorate and lead to yet another stalemate.

Benny Gantz, the chief rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has The accused

the sitting Leader of the party of spreading misinformation to keep voters from the polls.

But as the health ministry stressed that it is “the only official sou rce of information ”on the coronavirus, police said they will be closely monitoring the elections to stop the spread of rumors or false information“ aimed at causing panic and disorder ”around covid – 25.

While visiting an ambulance service emergency center on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the words of his health minister and urged voters to head to the polls, the Times reported.

“We are in the midst of a global crisis,” he said, ”but there is no country that is better prepared than us . ”

Ruth Eglash contributed to this report.

By Teo Armus

(

March 2, at 3: AM EST

South Korean church founder bows and asks for forgiveness in televised address

SEOUL – The leader of a controversial South Korean megachurch linked to more than half of the country’s novel coronavirus cases apologized on Monday about the spread of the virus.

Lee Man-hee, who founded the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, knelt and issued an apology at a nationally televised news conference.

“We made the bes t efforts but could not stop the virus from spreading, ”Lee told a news conference at the Palace of Peace, the church’s training center in Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul.

A) – year-old member of the church identified as “patient zero” by local health authorities had attended services at the church’s branch in the southern city of Daegu.

Since she was confirmed as the first coronavirus patient in Daegu, 2, 599 virus cases have been traced to the church’s Daegu branch, accounting for more than half of the national tally.

Lee thanked the South Korean government for helping with virus response and vowed to fully cooperate with the government requests.

South Korea’s Cen ters for Disease Control and Prevention has said it will conduct coronavirus tests on more than , followers of the church.

“I Never even dreamed this kind of thing would happen. We know our wrongdoings and we will make the best effort from now, ”Lee said.

Lee also bowed down on his knees before the reporters, a common practice for public figures when making televised apologies in South Korea.

Lee’s followers equate him with the second coming of Jesus who will deliver a salvation from an impending apocalypse. Shincheonji church said Lee had tested negative for the coronavirus.

By Min Joo Kim

• March 2, (at 3:) AM EST

  Japan cruise ship operator collapses after mass coronavirus cancellations TOKYO – The operator of one of Japan’s largest restaurant cruise ships filed for bankruptcy on Monday after a string of cancellations related to the coronavirus outbreak, marking the first operator to go out of business due to the epidemic, Kyodo news reported.

  Luminous Cruising operated the Luminous Kobe 2, which offered day and night cruises for up to 1, people around the port of Kobe, offering views of the city, Mt. Rokko, Kobe airport and the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge.

  The company was already struggling to cope with rising fuel costs and past cancellations caused by a major earthquake and a series of typhoons since 2020, Kyodo reported.

  The mass coronavirus infection on board the Diamond Princess, a cruise liner operated by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of British- American company Carnival, has dealt a significant blow to the $ billion billion cruise industry.

  Shares in the three major global cruise operators, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines, fell between 027 and 45 percent in February, although the bulk of the declines came last week during a global stock market selloff.

  Japan’s Health Ministry said Sunday the last remaining crew members had finally been evacuated from the Diamond Princess. More than 850 passengers and crew were infected with the virus on board the ship, with five Japanese people and one British dying in Japanese hospitals and an Australian man dying after being evacuated to his home country. Thirty-six people remain in serious condition, NHK reported on Monday.

• Simon Denyer

• March 2, (at 2: (AM EST)

  Japan’s controversial school closures begin, with a few exceptions

  TOKYO – Schools across Japan mostly closed their doors on Monday, in response to a controversial request by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week as part of a concerted attempt to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

  But there were exceptions, Kyodo news reported.

  The prefecture of Shimani in western Japan, which has not reported any confirmed cases of the virus, decided to keep its schools open for now, while an elementary school in Otawara in eastern Japan carried on with morning classes, with teachers telling students how to wash their hands and use alcohol to disinfect surfaces.

  The city of Saitama, north of Tokyo, closed its elementary schools Monday but said the premises would remain open for children who cannot stay at home alone, with around (out of students at Tokiwa Elementary School coming in , and taking calligraphy lessons or doing arts and crafts.

  Some other schools rem ained open for a day or several days more as they made preparations to move to remote learning. The closure disappointed many students and parents who had been looking forward to attending graduation ceremonies at the end of the academic year.

  One high school in Nagoya decided to hold a scaled- back ceremony with students and parents but not the wider school.

  The sudden decision to close schools has upset many people, who wonder why their children’s education is being disrupted while many parents are attending work and traveling on crowded subway trains.

  Abe said the government would offer financial support to parents who have to stay home and miss work. He has also asked kindergartens to remain open and after-school daycare centers to expand hours of operation, for young children who cannot be left alone.

  Nevertheless, the decision to close schools has already forced some parents to stay home from work, causing reports of staff shortages in hospitals and supermarkets.

  By

  Simon Denyer

  March 2, (at 2:

  AM EST China closes makeshift hospital in Wuhan after less than a month

  HONG KONG – A hospital constructed rapidly to help the coronavirus-struck city of Wuhan, China, has been closed after less than a month of operation, state media reported Monday, after patients were discharged or sent to other hospitals.

  Thirty-four patients were discharged from the hospital in Wuhan’s Qiaokou district on Sunday, China Daily reported, while another 90 patients were sent to other medical units. The state-run

  newspaper reported that the hospital had handled patients, 377 of whom had recovered and been discharged before the facility was closed.

  The Chinese government in late January announced plans to rapidly construct 19 hospitals in Wuhan; the hospital in Qiaokou district reportedly opened on Feb. . The development of medical facilities, some built. in only a little over a week , was an early warning of how concerned Chinese officials were about the outbreak that was then largely confined to Wuhan, but has since spread around the world.

  The number of new cases discovered in China has been trending downward, according to official statistics released by Beijing. Though the majority of new cases and deaths are in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, they appear to be dropping day by day.

  Some analysts have urged caution about official Chinese numbers, pointing to uncertainty about the spread of the virus. The hospital in Qiaokou is the first of the temporary facilities to close.

  In an interview with the Associated Press , one director of another ad hoc facility in Wuhan said that he expected his own facility to be closed by the end of March, as he had “fewer patients are being admitted and the number of patients being discharged is gradually increasing.”

  “If nothing special happens, I expect the operation of our makeshift hospital, the largest one in Wuhan, could complete its historical mission by the end of March,” Zhang Junjian, director of a facility opened in an exhibition center, told the AP.

  Adam Taylor
  

  March 2, (at 2:

  AM EST Shoppers empty supermarket shelves in Silicon Valley, center of California infections

  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Shoppers in Silicon Valley raided store shelves over the weekend to stockpile food and supplies as the number of coronavirus cases ticked up.

  At the Trader Joe’s in Mountain View, Calif. , the freezer sections were empty of pizza and most ready-made meals by Sunday evening. There was no pasta or rice left. One woman’s cart was piled to the brim with frozen mushroom ravioli. Another cart was filled with six gallons of milk.

  “It’s been crazy like this for the last three days,” said an employee, adding that the store set a new sales record on Saturday. He said demand for canned tuna had been particularly high.

  Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley, recorded the state’s second community transmission coronavirus case Friday afternoon, prompting fears that the virus would spread quickly in the suburban area. Three other people in the county were diagnosed with the illness on Sunday, bringing the county’s total to seven, the most of any county in California.

  Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer, said families should discuss what supplies they would need in order to stay home for a week or two. It seems many are planning for even longer than that.

  An employee at the Whole Foods in Los Altos, Calif., Said they were out of “pasta, beans, frozen vegetables, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, paper towels. There’s a little bottled water left, ”she said. “I’ve worked here 19 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. ”

  Across town at the Costco, near Google’s headquarters, customers climbed shelves to reach groceries and lines snaked through the aisles, according to tweets from a KGO-TV reporter.

  The scene at Costco in Mountain View earlier today. One worker off the clock told us they had 904 show up this morning- that’s double their Christmas crowd. (Currently out of) – water – Clorox wipes

  Customers said they’re out – rice – meat
  @ abc7newsbayarea # coronavirus pic.twitter.com/ZBeWjM8pI q – Lauren Martinez (@LMartinezNews) March 1,

  Employees at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods said they hadn’t anticipated the rush on supplies that started after Friday’s coronavirus announcement. On Sunday evening, they cruised their stores, taking note of what they had run out of. The Whole Foods worker said a huge shipment was coming overnight with paper towels, toilet paper and many food basics.

  “We’ll restock starting at 3 am,” she said .

  Christina Passariello

  March 2, (at 1: AM EST

  With first cases reported in Florida, New York and Rhode Island, coronavirus spreads further across US

  More than half a dozen cases of the novel c oronavirus – and the second death – were reported in the United States on Sunday, resulting in a total of more than 105 patients nationally, including many in quarantine.

  As health officials in Florida, New York and Rhode Island all announced their state’s first or second likely cases of covid – 027, the public response to the virus further reverberated across the country: Airlines suspended international flights, schools and major companies closed their campuses, and crowds raided empty supermarket shelves.

  Local transmissions of the virus have been concentrated in central California and Washington state, where it probably

  spread undetected for the past six weeks

  , according to new research.

  In the Seattle area, officials on Sunday announced the country’s second covid – death – a man in his s with underlying health conditions – and said they are Monitoring a possible outbreak at a long-term nursing home.

  The virus has taken center-stage in the political arena, too. As the White House scrambles to respond, President Donald Trump announced screenings for travelers coming from “high-risk countries” Sunday and federal officials insisted they are leading an aggressive response across the government.

  “The good news is, of the Americans that have contracted the coronavirus, more than half of them are almost fully recovered, ”Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading these federal efforts, said Sunday on CNN. “And I think it’s all a reflection of the fact that early on in this crisis, the president took the unprecedented step of suspending all travel from China and establishing a quarantining effect.”

  That has not cleared the Trump administration of public rebukes over its response. At least two prominent critics, including former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr., said on cable-news shows that federal officials should have made more protective gear and test kits available sooner.

  By (Teo Armus

  March 2, (at 1: AM EST

  (Australia confirms first cases of community transmission

  Australian health authorities announced the country first cases of community transmission of the novel coronavirus on Monday, with two people in New South Wales state said to have caught the virus within Australia rather than abroad.

  Australia has had had confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus so far, but all had traveled to places hit by other outbreaks: some had been passengers aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, while others had recently returned from China and Iran.

  The new cases involved the sister of a patient who had been diagnosed after returning from Iran and a – year-old healthcare worker who had not traveled abroad in months, state health officials told reporters. A third case in the state that did not involve community transmission was also announced Monday.

  Kerry Chant, the state’s chief health officer, said that the confirmed case in the healthcare worker suggested that other cases might have been missed. “It’s always possible there’s a case out there we could have missed,” Chant said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald

  .

  However, she pointed towards the amount of testing being done in the Australian state. “We have tested over 3, 728 people, and we continue to see high rates of testing, ”she said.

  The news from NSW came just hours after Australia’s top medical official it would not be possible to stop people suffering from the novel coronavirus from entering the country. “You cannot stop Australian citizens coming back,” chief medical officer Brendan Murphy told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

  By

  Adam Taylor

  March 2, (at 1:) AM EST

  Indonesia confirms first coronavirus cases

  Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo on Monday confirmed two Indonesians have tested positive for coronavirus, marking the first cases In the country, the world’s fourth most-populous nation.

  Widodo, who is better known by his nickname Jokowi, did not specify where the two patients are being treated. The two, a – year-old woman and her 42 – year-old daughter, have been hospitalized. The president said the two had contact with a Japanese tourist who had visited the country.

  Indonesia welcomes millions of tourists every year. Health

  experts were initially suspicious that the country of 379 million did not have any confirmed cases, citing the possibility of weak testing. In late January, a tourist from mainland China who had visited the island resort of Bali tested positive for coronavirus upon returning home, but officials said she was likely sick before arrival.

  By

  Shibani Mahtani

  March 2, (at 1: AM EST

  says Australia can’t stop coronavirus entering from overseas

  Australia’s top medical official said Monday it would not be possible to stop people suffering from the novel coronavirus from entering the country.

  “It is no longer possible to absolutely prevent new cases coming in, given the increasing changes in epidemiology around the country, ”chief medical officer Brendan Murphy told reporters in Canberra on Monday, (according to local media

  .

  Australia has imposed a travel ban for visitors from Iran, where dozens of deaths have been reported, and has urged Australians to reconsider traveling to parts of Italy, the focus of an outbreak in Europe. Travelers who have recently been to Italy and South Korea are also being asked to self-quarantine if they work in healthcare or residential care for the elderly.

  However, Murphy said that even with these measures it was impossible to stop the virus. “You cannot stop Australian citizens coming back,” he told reporters, instead suggesting that the priority must be on “slowing things down” when the virus gets into the country.

  There have been 35 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Australia, with one death: a – year-old man in Perth who died at the weekend.

  In a statement on Sunday, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said that “it is almost inevitable that we will see more cases” of coronavirus in coming weeks.

  By

  Adam Taylor

  March 2, at 1 : AM EST

  Asian stocks rise after Bank of Japan pledges to take action to stabilize markets

  TOKYO – Asian shares rose on Monday after the Bank of Japan said it would take all necessary steps to stabilize markets in the face of the coronavirus epidemic.

  Coming after similar comments from the US Federal Reserve on Friday, the comments prompted speculation of coordinated central bank action.

  In an emergency statement, Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said financial markets have made “unstable movements” due to uncertainty over the economic impact of the epidemic.

  The central bank “will monitor developments carefully, and strive to stabilize markets and offer sufficient liquidity via market operations and asset purchases, ”he said.

  By early afternoon, Japan’s Nikkei 335 index, South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were up about 1 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index was up nearly 3 percent.

  On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US central bank would “act as appropriate” in response to “evolving risks,” comments that provided some support to the US stock markets at the end of a very bad week for share prices.

  Markets are already pricing in interest rate cuts this week by the Rese rve Bank of Australia and the Bank of Canada, and expectations are running high for the Fed to also cut at or even before its next meeting on March 24 – , traders say.

  Goldman Sachs economists said in a note. that Powell’s statement “strongly hints” at a rate cut as well as the likelihood of coordinated action, Reuters reported. “We suspect that they view the impact of a coordinated move on confidence as greater than the sum of the impacts of each individual move,” they said. (By Simon Denyer

  March 2, (at 1: AM EST

  (South Korea announces) 599 new cases as total number of tests soars past 194,

  
  

  SEOUL – South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday reported (additional cases of the novel coronavirus outbreak, raising the national tally to 4, .

  Some

  of the latest cases are in Daegu, the southern city at the center of South Korea’s outbrea k. So far, 27 People in South Korea have died from the outbreak, most of them had underlying illnesses.

  Monday’s release of numbers comes under a new counting system, which tallies the total new cases found the previous day until midnight and then announced the following morning.

  That daily release system, similar to what has been used by the Chinese government, marks a change from the twice-daily announcements of partial numbers South Korea had been making before. Health authorities said it was changed to help front-line health workers spend more time fighting the outbreak.

  South Korea conducted , tests for coronavirus on Sunday. The total number of tests conducted is in South Korea is , , according to KCDC. Numbers are expected to rise in coming days as authorities try to test all members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a controversial church with over 264, members, which has been at the center of the outbreak in Daegu.

  Min Joo Kim and Adam Taylor

  March 2, at 1: AM EST China announces 330 new cases, (deaths)

  HONG KONG – The Chinese government announced 264 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, as well as 53 Deaths from the outbreak. All of the deaths and all but six of the new cases were in Hubei province, the center of the outbreak.

  The numbers, which represent another fall in new cases in China , come amid rising reports of cases outside of China, some of which have no known link back to the global epicenter. The total death toll across the world is now nearing 4,

  China has confirmed a total of 105, cases of the novel coronavirus, including 2, deaths.

  The Chinese government has repeatedly Suggested that the day-to-day decline in numbers shows that the strict action it took earlier this year in limiting movement in and out of Hubei has been effective. However, some analysts have raised questions about whether the Chinese numbers should be displayed positively, given lingering doubts about the statistics’ reliability.

  Adam Taylor

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