(Bloomberg) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration as the country tries to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
More signs emerged that the coronavirus outbreak is slowing in hard-hit areas, with Germany’s cases increasing by the smallest amount this month. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy expects to gradually ease its lockdown beginning May 4. Singapore, once a standard bearer for taming the virus, reported more than 1,000 cases for a second day.
The U.S. disbursed $2.9 billion to airlines in the first round of payroll assistance, while the Senate neared a vote on a stimulus package of as much as $500 billion.
Key Developments
Virus Tracker: Cases top 2.4 million; deaths exceed 170,000How Singapore flipped from virus hero to cautionary taleTesting pivots to focus on how far virus has spreadSouthern states push to reopen with economic pressure risingTreasury hands out $2.9 billion to airlines
Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus.
German Oktoberfest Canceled (3:33 p.m. HK)
The annual Oktoberfest folk and beer festival in Munich originally scheduled to begin Sept. 19 has been canceled due to the coronavirus, Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder said.
“We agreed that the risk is simply too great,” Soeder said at a news conference. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said the event brings in around 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for local businesses, and that hotels, restaurants and taxi drivers would especially suffer.
The Oktoberfest is one of the world’s biggest folk festivals and draws around 6 million visitors each year. Germany has banned large public gatherings until at least the end of August.
Singapore Cases Top 1,000 Again (3:24 p.m. HK)
Singapore preliminarily confirmed 1,111 new cases of Covid-19 infections, the second day in a row that infections topped the 1,000 mark. The vast majority of cases were work permit holders in foreign worker dormitories.
Singapore was a global standard bearer for taming the virus in the early days of the pandemic. Now it’s home to Southeast Asia’s largest recorded outbreak and is racing to regain control, amid an explosion in cases among migrant laborers.
Italy Plans to Gradually Ease Lockdown From May 4 (2:12 p.m. HK)
Italy will present a plan this week to ease its lockdown, said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in a post on Facebook. “A reasonable forecast” is that a detailed restart program will be applied from May 4, Conte said.
Conte said that his cabinet is working with various experts to coordinate the so-called “phase 2” when Italy will have to cohabit with the coronavirus. The plan will be done at a national level but it will take into account regional differences, Conte said.
Peugeot Maker PSA Expects Chaotic Rebound (2:09 p.m. HK)
French automaker PSA Group said sales slumped 16% in the first quarter and forecast the European market will shrink by a quarter this year as the coronavirus pandemic slams the car industry. The company planning to merge with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has secured liquidity and cut costs, Chief Financial Officer Philippe de Rovira said in a statement, adding that it is preparing a rebound in a chaotic economic environment.
German Cases Rise the Least This Month (1:35 p.m. HK)
The number of coronavirus cases in Germany increased by the smallest amount this month as the country starts to gradually loosen restrictions on public life. There were 1,323 new infections in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning, taking the total to 147,065, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Fatalities rose by 220, the most in three days, to 4,862.
Angela Merkel warned on Monday that the public debate about easing preventative measures brought in last month risks sparking a new wave of infections. In a closed-door meeting of her Christian Democratic Union party, the chancellor made it clear that her government doesn’t plan to introduce any further restrictions, though the option remains on the table.
Virus Wipes Out More Than 90% of International Flights (12:26 p.m. HK)
Airlines have cut international capacity to just half a million seats a week from an average of 5.9 million before the coronavirus shut borders and decimated travel demand, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide.
“There isn’t much more international capacity that can be dropped around the globe,” OAG senior analyst John Grant wrote in a post dated April 20.
Strong domestic capacity has at least helped stem declines in countries such as the U.S., Japan and Indonesia, though demand is lacking, Grant said.
Indonesia Bans Mass Travel Ahead of Eid Festival (12:07 p.m HK)
Indonesia banned an annual ritual of citizens traveling in large numbers to their hometowns and villages ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr to prevent spread of coronavirus.
Health-care experts had called for a ban on the exodus, known as mudik, as it could spread the virus to more areas from the Greater Jakarta area, the nation’s epicenter of the outbreak. Roughly one out of every eight Indonesians head home ahead of Eid, the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan. An estimated 19.5 million people traveled to their hometowns from big cities like Jakarta during last year’s Eid, official data show.
Australia Sees ‘Road Back’ (11:58 a.m. HK)
Australia’s government said lockdown measures have led to a “sustained and consolidated” slowdown in new coronavirus cases, though cautioned there will be no easing of restrictions for at least three more weeks.
The growth rate has been less than 1% for nine consecutive days and has averaged less than 0.5% for the past three days, Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Canberra Tuesday.
In a sign of the nation’s success in flattening the curve, the government announced that elective surgery will gradually resume starting next week — one of the first steps to reopening locked down sections of the economy.
Trump Says He’ll Suspend Immigration to U.S. (10:24 a.m. HK)
President Donald Trump said he’ll sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the U.S. as the country tries to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Trump made the announcement by tweet late Monday night, and did not offer specifics, such as the time frame or the scope of who would be affected. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hong Kong Extends Social Distancing Measures (10:06 a.m. HK)
Hong Kong is extending social distancing restrictions for another 14 days as a precautionary measure, even as the financial hub sees a dropoff in daily infections.
“This is not the time to let down our guard, or our efforts would go to waste,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said. The measures were due to expire Thursday.
Hong Kong — unlike other similar-size urban centers including Singapore and New York — has so far managed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The city reported no new daily cases Monday for the first time since March 5, after a week straight of new cases in the single digits. It hasn’t seen a death from the virus since mid-March.
South Korea Exports Plunge (9:12 a.m. HK)
South Korea’s exports plunged so far this month, underscoring how the coronavirus outbreak is hitting global supply chains and overall demand. Exports fell 27% during the first 20 days of April from a year earlier, the Korea Customs Service said in a statement. Shipments to the biggest trading partner, China, dropped 17%. Semiconductor sales declined 15%.
Pence Says U.S. Has Test Capacity for States to Reopen (9:10 a.m. HK)
The Trump administration declared the U.S. has enough laboratory testing capacity for states to begin reopening economies, though governors say they still lack supplies such as swabs needed to diagnose sick people.
President Donald Trump and U.S. governors have sparred for days over who is responsible for expanding testing for coronavirus infections, which public health experts say isn’t sufficient to begin relaxing the social-distancing practices adopted to curb the outbreak.
“We told the governors once again today, that by our best estimates, we have enough testing capacity today for every state in America to go to phase one” of the White House’s reopening plan, Vice President Mike Pence said at a news conference.
U.S. Treasury Hands Out $2.9 Billion to Airlines (8:47 a.m. HK)
The U.S. Treasury Department disbursed $2.9 billion to passenger airlines in the first round of payroll assistance to an industry suffering financially from a pandemic-induced shutdown.
Six airlines including American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. have struck agreements with the federal government for aid, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The assistance that has been handed out so far went to two “major” airlines and 54 smaller passenger carriers, the department said. More payments will be sent out on a rolling basis, it said.
China Reports 11 Cases, No Deaths (8:29 a.m. HK)
China reported 11 additional coronavirus cases by end of April 20, the lowest number since March 13. It also reported no deaths for the sixth straight day.
Four of the new cases came from abroad, according to a statement from the country’s National Health Commission. China has a total of 82,758 confirmed coronavirus cases.
China also reported 37 asymptomatic cases. The country has 992 such cases under medical observation.
Senate Sets Up Tuesday Vote on Aid Plan (8:14 a.m. HK)
The U.S. Senate plans to meet Tuesday for a potential vote on an emergency stimulus package of as much as $500 billion, as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said all sides are continuing talks on the measure.
McConnell said congressional leaders and the Trump administration are discussing proposals to add funds to a tapped-out small business aid program. The proposal also would provide money for coronavirus testing and overwhelmed hospitals.
Virgin Australia Collapses After Pandemic Halts Travel (7:18 a.m. HK)
Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. became the latest corporate casualty of the coronavirus, calling in administrators after the outbreak deprived the debt-burdened airline of almost all income. Virgin Australia joins FlyBe — the U.K.’s biggest domestic airline before it collapsed last month — among the industry’s first corporate casualties of the virus. Airlines have been pummeled by domestic and international travel bans that forced them to seek government aid.
L.A. Study Suggests Virus More Widespread Than Thought (5:30 p.m. NY)
A collaborative study between the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the University of Southern California estimated that about 4.1% of the county’s adult population has antibodies to the coronavirus. That estimate, researchers said, is 28 to 55 times higher than the 7,994 confirmed cases of the virus in the county at the time of the study.
Antibody tests, which show not whether a person is currently suffering from Covid-19 but whether they have ever been exposed in the past, are crucial to understanding how widespread and deadly the virus really is. Such tests are typically conducted with drops of blood from a finger or a draw from a vein.
In Los Angeles, researchers collected samples from a representative sample of the county population at six drive-through testing sites using a rapid antibody test. When accounting for study limitations and potential errors, they said the number of people with antibodies could range from 2.8% to 5.6%.
Southern States Move to Lift Lockdowns (5:23 p.m. NY)
Southern Republican governors who were among the last to institute shelter-at-home orders pushed to become the first to lift them. Tattoo parlors, movie theaters and nail salons in Georgia will begin opening up this week, along with beaches, florists and shoe shops in South Carolina.
The announcements came Monday afternoon after Georgia Governor Brian Kemp spent the weekend talking to his fellow Republican governors in the South about how best to re-open their economies in response to guidelines from the White House late last week.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced in a Monday briefing he was forming a task force termed “Accelerate South Carolina” to look at quickly and safely opening up the economy and serve as a resource to citizens. “We must be ready to stomp on the gas when the green light comes up,” McMaster said.
Brazil Deaths Rise; Peak Seen Weeks Away (4:40 p.m. NY)
Brazil reported an increase in coronavirus fatalities as the country’s public health system nears capacity and the pandemic spreads to poorer states that are ill-equipped for a surge in patients. The country’s death toll rose by 113 to 2,575, health authorities said. Confirmed infections rose by nearly 2,000 to 40,581, more than three times the number seen two weeks ago. Health officials say Brazil is probably still weeks away from the peak cases.
U.S. Confirmed Cases Rise 2.7% (4 p.m. NY)
U.S. cases rose 2.7% from the day before to 766,664 by Monday afternoon, the lowest daily increase in at least two weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. That was lower than Sunday’s growth rate of 5.6% and down from the average daily increase of 4.5% over the past week.
New York cases rose 2.4%, as the hardest-hit state shows signs of stabilizing in the past week. New York’s cases were rising at a rate of 3.3% a week ago.
California had 42 deaths from the virus overnight, bringing the state’s total to 1,208, according to Governor Gavin Newsom.
Florida Plans for Reopening (2:40 p.m. NY)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said predictions of massively overwhelmed hospitals haven’t materialized in the state as he laid the groundwork for potentially reopening the economy. Ensuring adequate hospital capacity was among the main reasons for shutting down the state.
“We’ve got an enormous amount of capacity,” DeSantis said, as he addressed the first meeting of his Re-Open Florida Task Force on Monday. “The system is holding up.”
DeSantis, a Republican, said testing, including antibody testing, would be key to successfully reopening the state. Florida has had 789 Covid-19 deaths and 26,660 total confirmed cases.
Virus’s Stability Helps Vaccines: WHO (1:20 p.m. NY)
Researchers have studied about 10,000 genome sequences, and it appears that the virus is relatively stable, which is good news for the potential of developing a vaccine, epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said at a World Health Organization press briefing in Geneva. If viruses mutate too much, vaccines can become ineffective.
A big proportion of people are vulnerable to Covid-19 infection as several studies suggest that only a single-digit percentage has been infected, Van Kerkhove said. That’s smaller than expected, which raises the risk that lifting lockdowns too quickly or all at once will fuel a resurgence, she said. Several Asian countries have been reporting increases after easing restrictions.
“We have been warning from day one: This is a devil that everyone should fight,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Politics may fuel the pandemic further, he warned, denying allegations from the U.S. that the group withheld information and from Taiwan that the country had alerted the WHO about the possibility of human-to-human transmission on Dec. 31.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com” data-reactid=”107″>For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.” data-reactid=”108″>Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Add Comment