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CORONAVIRUS

Italian lock-down

Millions of northern Italians are grappling today with their first day back at work since the imposition of an unprecedented virtual lock-down of activity in the region. How will bars and cafes cope with rules banning customers from sitting closer than one meter apart?

And how will authorities on the ground make consistent decisions about what constitutes “essential” travel in and out of the region? The stated aim of the measures is to buy time for over-stretched health services to ramp up their response. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says Italy has chosen the path of “truth and transparency” in acknowledging the full scale of the crisis - meanwhile questions abound about how its near neighbors France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland will react.

Markets double-whammy

Financial markets are already struggling to understand what the coronavirus outbreak means for asset prices - now add to that the new trading turmoil after Saudi Arabia slashed oil prices and set plans for a dramatic rise in crude production. European shares this morning slumped as fears of a global recession were amplified by a 25% plunge in oil prices. Panicked investors bought bonds and the yen, which are deemed as safer assets to own right now.

“Wild is an understatement,” said Chris Brankin, chief executive at stockbroker TD Ameritrade Singapore. “Across the globe you would have every broker/dealer raising their margin requirements ... trying to basically protect our clients from trying to leverage too much risk or guess where the bottom is.”

The spread in figures

The number of people infected with the coronavirus topped 107,000 globally, according to a Reuters tally of government announcements. Mainland China, outside the epicenter of Hubei province, reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second straight day. That said, this is the second-highest number of daily reported cases since the disease began, with almost 99% of new cases reported now outside of China.

The death toll outside of China also shot up to 704 from 129 a week earlier. Almost 80 percent of those deaths are from Iran and Italy. In the past 24 hours Italy reported 133 deaths, roughly the same amount as China’s combined toll over the past 5 days

The number of confirmed U.S. cases of coronavirus reached nearly 550 on Sunday, including 22 deaths. Older Americans, especially those with chronic medical concerns, are being advised to think twice about attending big social gatherings and going on airline flights.

Sports without spectators

The latest sporting event to be held without fans in attendance will be the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on March 22. Bahrain itself has reported 83 cases of the virus, mostly linked to people who had traveled to Iran.

“Convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travelers and local fans to interact in close proximity, would not be the right thing to do at the present time,” the organizer said.

Confirmed Coronavirus may force Americans to avoid crowds and cancel cruises; U.S. cases near 550
Older Americans, especially those with chronic medical concerns, should probably avoid big social gatherings and airline flights, given the rapid spread of coronavirus, a top U.S. health official said, as investors braced for another volatile week in financial markets.

Grand Princess cruise ship passengers bound for coronavirus quarantine in California, elsewhere
An ocean liner barred from returning to port in San Francisco due to a coronavirus outbreak on board will dock briefly at a nearby terminal in Oakland, where passengers will be unloaded and sent on to medical and quarantine sites elsewhere, officials said.

Italy locks down millions as its coronavirus deaths jump
Italy ordered a virtual lockdown across much of its wealthy north, including the financial capital Milan, in a drastic new attempt to try to contain a outbreak of coronavirus that saw the number of deaths leap again sharply on Sunday.

World

Millions of women in Mexico and Argentina will stay away from offices, school and government offices on Monday, stepping up historic protests against gender violence that saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets over the weekend. The one-day action dubbed “a day without us” is intended to show what life would be like if women vanished from society. In Mexico, the strike stems from a surge in disappearances of women and femicides, or gender-motivated killings of women.

A Dutch judge described as “almost incomprehensible” the 2014 shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine that killed all 298 passengers and crew on board, as the trial of three fugitive Russians and a Ukrainian began on Monday near Amsterdam. None of the accused were present in the courtroom and all four are believed to be in Russia. Only one sent a defense lawyer.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will seek European financial, political and military support in talks with EU and NATO leaders but will be told he must first stop encouraging migrants to cross his country’s borders into Greece. Tens of thousands of migrants have been trying to get into Greece since Ankara said on Feb. 28 it would no longer try to keep them on its territory as agreed in a 2016 deal in return for billions of euros in aid for refugees.

The top court in India’s most populous state ordered authorities to remove large displays of the names, pictures and addresses of dozens of anti-government protesters, amid fears that they encourage attacks by vigilante mobs. The government of Uttar Pradesh in northern India put up six hoardings last week in prominent places in Lucknow, the state capital, identifying people it says joined in violent protests against a new citizenship law based on religion.