(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia halted religious visits that draw millions to cities including Mecca and Medina. U.S. authorities identified the first coronavirus case that doesn’t have ties to a known outbreak, as President Donald Trump assured Americans they face little risk.
More cases were reported in countries other than China for the first time, highlighting the spread of the epidemic. Britain added two cases, Switzerland three and South Korea reported 505 new infections.
China plans to suspend retail government bond sales and Malaysia unveiled a stimulus package valued at about $4.8 billion. Equities fell and bond yields hit record lows.
Key Developments
Global deaths surpass 2,800, with more than 82,000 casesChina death toll at 2,744, up 29; cases climb to 78,497, up 433First U.S. case of unknown origin; Pence in charge of responseSouth Korea cases rise, U.S. urges travelers to reconsider trips
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Malaysia Unveils Stimulus Package (5:20 p.m. HK)
Malaysia announced a package of measures valued at 20 billion ringgit ($4.8 billion) to boost an economy battered by the coronavirus outbreak. The government will support businesses affected by the virus, particularly in the tourism industry.
China Plans to Suspend Retail Govt Bond Sales (5:16 p.m. HK)
China plans to suspend selling government bonds to retail customers via bank branches next month, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified for discussing a private matter. The halt is partly due to concerns over public gatherings during the outbreak.
AB InBev, Aston Martin Warn (5:01 p.m. HK)
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world’s largest brewer, slumped after forecasting the steepest decline in quarterly profit in at least a decade due to the coronavirus. Aston Martin said revenue will continue to slide as it marks time until an anticipated boost from its new DBX SUV and braces for the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Chinese demand.
Earlier, Microsoft became joined Apple and HP in cutting outlook, while Standard Chartered said it may take longer to hit a key target.
South Korea Reports 505 More Cases, 1 Death (4:52 p.m. HK)
South Korea’s health ministry announced an additional 171 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed as of 4pm local time on top of the 334 additional cases reported earlier in the day. The country’s daily tally of 505 today exceeded that of China’s 433 from yesterday.
Israel Asks Citizens to Reconsider Travel (3:51 p.m. HK)
The Israeli government has asked citizens to reconsider plans to travel abroad, as the coronavirus spreads to more countries. The ministry added Italy to the list of destinations from which Israelis are required to enter into quarantine upon return. It’s the first non-Asian country on the list.
Middle East Cases Rise (3:44 p.m. HK)
Kuwait reported a jump in coronavirus cases to 43, from 26 previously, with all the cases linked to Iran, the hub of the outbreak in the Middle East. Iran has reported 158 cases, including 19 deaths. The United Arab Emirates, which has 13 cases and hasn’t given an update since Saturday, said it’s setting up a medical facility to quarantine patients.
WHO Says Italy Errors May Have Inflated Cases: Corriere (3 p.m. HK)
Testing of people without any virus symptoms was wrong and didn’t follow World Health Organization guidelines, said Walter Ricciardi, a member of WHO’s board, according to a report by Corriere della Sera.
The result was “general confusion and alarm” as the tests may have inflated positive results, Ricciardi said in an interview with the newspaper. The testing strategy in the Veneto region ignored scientific evidence, he said.
Australia Launches Emergency Plan for Likely Pandemic (2:30 p.m. HK)
The Australian government activated an emergency plan to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, saying it had to prepare for a likely pandemic. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also extended a travel ban on people entering the country from mainland China for a further week.
“We believe the risk of global pandemic is very much upon us and as a result, as a government, we need to take the steps necessary to prepare for such a pandemic,” he told the media, without providing further details of emergency measures.
China Expert Sees Epidemic Contained by End of April (12:02 p.m. HK)
Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory disease expert advising the Chinese government, is confident the coronavirus outbreak will be largely contained by the end of April, Nanfang Daily reported, citing a briefing on Thursday.
Zhong, who led the research into a treatment for SARS, earlier expected the virus outbreak to peak by mid- to late February.
BOK Puts Micro Response to Virus Before Rate Move (11:34 a.m. HK)
Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol provided loan support for coronavirus-hit companies rather than a wider-reaching interest rate move on Thursday, saying it was still too early to gauge the overall economic impact of the outbreak.
The central bank left interest rates unchanged, holding off from a repetition of the rate cut response it took during a virus outbreak in 2015. The decision contrasts with the more aggressive response taken by Asian central banks from Indonesia to Thailand. The bank also downgraded its growth forecast for the year, and Lee said it was also possible the economy would contract in the first quarter as it took a hit from the outbreak.
AmCham China Members See Impact From Outbreak (11:11 a.m. HK)
The coronavirus epidemic is causing a significant challenge to U.S. businesses in China due to travel disruptions and reduced staff productivity, according to the results of a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce.
China Leaders Donate Own Money to Virus Fight (11:06 a.m. HK)
Chinese President Xi Jinping and six of his top officials have donated money from their own pockets to fight the coronavirus, as the government scrambles to mobilize public support that has wavered over its response to the outbreak.
The personal donations were reported by the official Xinhua news agency, which said the officials sat on the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party’s top echelon. Xinhua didn’t say how much they donated.
Trump Says CDC Budget Cuts Won’t Hurt Virus Response (9:45 a.m. HK)
President Donald Trump said his proposed cuts to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the agency leading the government’s response to the coronavirus — wouldn’t affect preparations for an outbreak.
“We can get money and we can increase staff. We know all the good people. Some of the people we’ve cut they haven’t been used in many many years,” Trump said during a news conference at the White House. “I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When you need them you can get them back very quickly. We can build up very very quickly. We already have done that.”
China Reports 433 New Coronavirus Cases (9:30 a.m. HK)
China reported 433 additional coronavirus cases, bringing the total case count to 78,497, according to a statement from the National Health Commission.
China’s death toll increase by 29 to 2,744, as Hubei province, where the outbreak originated, reported 26 additional fatalities. Hubei had 409 new confirmed cases. Discharged patients in mainland China rose by 2,750 to 32,495.
The number of cases in China is declining as those elsewhere are climbing. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that more coronavirus cases were reported in countries other than China for the first time since the initial patient was identified on Dec. 8.
U.S. Raises Travel Alert on South Korea (9:22 a.m. HK)
The U.S government is asking Americans to “reconsider” travel to South Korea as the coronavirus spreads in that country. The State Department issued a Level 3 advisory — 4 being the most severe.
South Korea has confirmed 171 more cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1,766. Korean authorities thought they had largely contained the illness until they learned that a woman who had been infected attended two services of a secretive religious sect with at least 1,000 other people. Within 24 hours, the nation’s number of confirmed cases started multiplying exponentially.
U.S. Identifies First Case of Unknown Origin (8:52 a.m. HK)
U.S. health authorities said they’ve identified a first case of coronavirus that doesn’t have ties to a known outbreak, a worrying signal that the virus is already circulating despite reassurances from the Trump administration that it’s been contained.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the patient doesn’t appear to have traveled to China or been exposed to another known case of the coronavirus. Health authorities have been increasingly concerned about what’s known as community spread, where the virus begins circulating freely among people outside of quarantines or known contacts with other patients.
The CDC said the case was picked up by doctors in California, and that the patient may have been infected by a traveler who brought the disease in. It didn’t give more information on the patient’s status. The new case brings the total of known infections in the U.S. to 15, not counting repatriated Americans.
Saudi Arabia Bans Religious Visits (8:27 a.m. HK)
Saudi Arabia temporarily halted religious visits that include stops in Mecca and Medina, which draw millions of people a year as the Islamic world’s holiest cities, to help prevent the spread of coronavirus into the country.
Tourism visa-holders from countries with reported coronavirus infections will also be denied entry, the Saudi embassy in Washington said in an emailed statement, without naming any countries. The steps are temporary and subject to continuous evaluation, according to the statement.
The government is acting to block the deadly virus as neighboring countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates have flagged dozens of cases. No infections had been reported by Saudi Arabian authorities as of Wednesday.
Trump Puts Pence in Charge of Coronavirus Response (7:50 a.m. HK)
President Donald Trump said that Vice President Mike Pence will take control of the administration’s coronavirus response, putting the White House in charge of a collection of federal agencies dealing with the situation in the U.S.
Trump assured Americans that they face little risk from the coronavirus outbreak, seeking to ease public concern after lawmakers raised alarm the U.S. is unprepared. Trump appeared with U.S. health officials to discuss the government’s coronavirus response.
Asked whether the government has envisioned measures such as imposing quarantines on entire cities, the president said that there are plans on “a much larger scale” but that “we don’t think we’re going to need it.”
–With assistance from John Harney, Jonathan Levin, Glen Carey, Mario Parker, Jordan Fabian, Sarah McGregor, Zaid Sabah, Karen Leigh, Dandan Li, Stephen Tan, Sam Kim, Miao Han, Lulu Shen, Ross Larsen and Alisa Odenheimer.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in Minneapolis at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rachel Chang at [email protected], Jeff Sutherland
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