More than a quarter of Italy’s population have been placed in mandatory quarantine as the government attempts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has signed a decree to impose quarantine and limit movement into and out of large areas of the north, including Milan and Venice. Movements within the region will be allowed only for “non-deferrable” business or health reasons. The so-called red zone is in Northern Italy and includes Lombardy and several other provinces. The ban of movement begins on Sunday and lasts till 3 April. In this zone, all public gatherings will be suspended and schools, museums and theaters will be closed.
Mr Conte said: “For Lombardy and for the other northern provinces that I have listed there will be a ban for everybody to move in and out of these territories and also within the same territory. “Exceptions will be allowed only for proven professional needs, exceptional cases and health issues.”
The outbreak in Europe. Credit: PA Graphics
Around the world, more and more countries are bracing for a surge in virus cases. Western countries have been increasingly imitating China – where the virus first emerged late last year, and which has suffered the vast majority of infections – by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events. On Saturday, Italy saw its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in the north of the country on February 21. In its daily update, Italy’s civil protection agency said the number of people with the coronavirus rose by 1,247 in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 5,883. Another 36 people also died as a result of the virus, taking the total to 233. There was chaos and confusion hours before Mr Conte signed the decree, as word spread that the government was planning the quarantine. “Nobody told me,” said Maurizio Rasero, adding that he had hundreds of messages on his mobile phone from alarmed citizens. “It’s incredible that information that is so delicate and important would come out in the newspaper first, leaking everywhere even before local authorities learn about it.”
Retailers are having to take drastic action to limit the number of toilet paper rolls, face masks and hand sanitizer bottles each person can buy as customers stockpile goods over fears of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The epidemic has infected more than 97,000 people and killed 3,300 globally, leading to growing alarm that has resulted in mass bulk buying around the world. Australian supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles both began limiting toilet paper purchases to four packs per person this week. Costco Australia is also restricting how much toilet tissue, disinfectant, milk, eggs and rice each customer can buy.
In the United States, Kroger says it is capping individual purchases of “sanitization, cold and flu-related products,” while Home Depot is curbing the number of face masks in single orders placed online and in stores. In the United Kingdom, Boots is limiting the purchase of hand sanitizer to two bottles per customer, and UK online grocer Ocado has advised customers to place orders further in advance in the wake of “exceptionally high demand.” Emergency food service providers — which send freeze dried meals to people preparing for crises such as natural disasters — are also experiencing a huge surge in sales. “We’re doing approximately our average monthly orders in a day,” said James Blake, chief of Emergency Food Storage UK, the largest emergency food supplier in Europe. “Our tins have a 25-year shelf life so people are really thinking about stocking up.” At a Coles supermarket in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday, toilet paper was completely sold out. One worker at the store told CNN Business that his shift had been hectic as customers mobbed the aisles. When a new delivery of toilet rolls arrived that afternoon, workers didn’t even have time to unpack the goods before shoppers swooped in, he said. Things were so frantic that workers simply handed packs straight to customers, the employee added. He said he didn’t want to be named because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media. “It’s crazy,” one customer muttered after spotting empty shelves at the store. “Insane,” another person said. Continue reading “Panic buying forces stores to limit purchases of toilet paper and masks”
Gov. Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday to deal with the worsening coronavirus crisis, as the number of cases jumped to 11 in the Big Apple — including one in Queens — and 76 across New York. Saturday’s numbers more than doubled the cases in the city, which stood at five on Friday, the governor said at a noon press conference. There were 21 new cases outside the city, from 44 the day before, he said. “We are testing aggressively, said Cuomo. “The more positives you find, the better.” Identifying people who have the virus is good, because they can be isolated and they won’t continue to infect people, the governor said. He couldn’t say how many tests are being conducted, but said thousands have results still outstanding. A state of emergency frees up $30 million that will be used to expand testing and purchase items such as masks and protective gear for healthcare workers, the governor said. Sen. James Sanders Jr. said the Queens case was in Far Rockaway. Other new cases include two people who were previously on a cruise, while the other five new cases were spread within the community, the governor said. There are four cases in Nassau County, and two in upstate Saratoga County. One woman in Saratoga county had been in contact with a person from Pennsylvania who has tested positive at a conference in Miami, Cuomo said. There are now 57 cases in Westchester County and two in Rockland County that can be traced to a cluster tied to attorney Lawrence Garbuz, 50, believed to be connected to the majority of the state’s cases so far, officials have said.
“Westchester is an obvious problem for us,” the governor said. “They talk about the contagion in clusters and the clusters tend to infect more and more people.” Garbuz, a New Rochelle lawyer, commuted to work in Midtown by Metro-North before he fell ill and became the state’s second case earlier this week. Since then, his wife, Adina, and two of his children, a 14-year-old girl and 20-year-old son, have tested positive, as did a neighbor who drove him to the hospital. Garbuz is believed to have contracted the virus in Westchester and not through travel. Multiple members of The Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, where Garbuz worships, have also tested positive. Cuomo said the state is reconsidering how to address the quarantine period for people in Westchester who are quarantined after coming in contact with people who have tested positive, to apply to their last contact with other people. The quarantine period is typically 14 days after last contact. There is no need to cancel large gatherings across the board at this point, Cuomo said, although that may have to happen in Rockland and Westchester counties. Cuomo said the state has a protocol in place to test people who are known to have contact with someone who has tested positive. As private labs ramp up their capacity, more tests will be available and the protocol will be expanded.
“You know what’s worse than the virus? The anxiety and the fear and the confusion,” he said.
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported a significantly reduced number of COVID-19 cases with 99 new confirmed in the past twenty-four hours. This marks the lowest number since January 20, when the NHC released its first round of figures. Of the newly reported cases, 25 were seen outside the country’s Hubei province where the outbreak began. Additionally, the total number of patients in China stands at 80,651. In the meantime, Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) revealed 483 new people were confirmed to be affected by the disease in the country in the past day to reach 6,767 in total, while the nationwide death toll stands at 44 with one additional fatality reported since yesterday’s update.
Equities on major United States stock markets closed the trading session on Friday lower. Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) developments grabbed the investors’ focus as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide climbed over 101,000 with the death toll reaching 3,462. United States President Donald Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill for allocating funds to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, US Census Bureau said that wholesale inventories were down 0.4% in January. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there 273,000 non-farm jobs in February added. Also, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the trade deficit narrowed to $45.3 billion in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined by 0.98% at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co was the worst performer, losing 5.13%. The Nasdaq 100 decreased by 1.63% as the trading session ended. Autodesk lost the most, 5.77%. The S&P 500 lost 1.71% at the closing bell as Diamondback Energy dropped 16.58%.
The United States Federal Reserve announced on Tuesday that it decided to cut the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to the 1%-1.25% due to coronavirus concerns.
“The fundamentals of the US economy remain strong. However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity,” the central bank said in a statement and noted that all members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted in favor of the emergency move. “The Committee is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook and will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy,” the FOMC added.
The unexpected announcement comes just hours after US President Donald Trump urged the Fed to further lower rates as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
NEWSFLASH: The world’s top finance ministers and central bankers have just pledged to do what they can to protect the global economy from the coronavirus.
Here is a copy of their Joint statement from their hastily arranged meeting:
“We, G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, are closely monitoring the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its impact on markets and economic conditions.
Given the potential impacts of COVID-19 on global growth, we reaffirm our commitment to use all appropriate policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable growth and safeguard against downside risks
Alongside strengthening efforts to expand health services, G7 finance ministers are ready to take actions, including fiscal measures where appropriate, to aid in the response to the virus and support the economy during this phase. G7 central banks will continue to fulfill their mandates, thus supporting price stability and economic growth while maintaining the resilience of the financial system.
We welcome that the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other international financial institutions stand ready to help member countries address the human tragedy and economic challenge posed by COVID-19 through the use of their available instruments to the fullest extent possible.
G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors stand ready to cooperate further on timely and effective measures.”
SEATTLE (AP) — An increase in testing for the coronavirus began shedding light Monday on how the illness has spread in the United States, including in Washington state, where four people died at a nursing home and some schools were closed for disinfection. New diagnoses in several states pushed the tally of COVID-19 cases past 100, and New Hampshire reported its first case, raising the total of affected states to 11. Seattle officials announced four more deaths, bringing the total in the U.S. to six. In Seattle, King County Executive Dow Constantine declared an emergency and said the county was buying a hotel to be used as a hospital for patients who need to be isolated. He said the facility should be available by the end of the week. “We have moved to a new stage in the fight,” he said. Vice President Mike Pence met with the nation’s governors and pledged to continue updating them weekly by teleconference. President Donald Trump met with pharmaceutical companies to talk about progress toward a vaccine. The deaths at a nursing home in suburban Kirkland, Washington, were especially troubling to health care experts because of the vulnerability of sick and elderly people to the illness and existing problems in nursing facilities.
“It’s going to be a disaster,” said Charlene Harrington, who studies nursing homes at the University of California, San Francisco. Infection is already a huge problem in U.S. nursing homes because of a lack of nurses and training.
In Texas, tension between U.S. and local officials brewed over the planned release Monday of more than 120 ex-passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine in San Antonio. Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared a public safety emergency in an attempt to continue the quarantine. He and other officials in San Antonio called for more lab testing of the passengers after one woman tested positive after release. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its case count includes 45 infections among people who were on the cruise ship, one more than previously reported. The count includes people who tested positive after returning from travel to outbreak areas in other parts of the world, their close contacts and infections that appear to be from community spread — people who did not travel or have known contact with other infected people.
The CDC recently broadened its guidelines for who should be tested for the new virus to include people with symptoms but without a travel history to virus hot zones.
More testing will bring more confirmed cases, experts said, but they cautioned that does not mean the virus is gaining speed. Instead, the testing is likely to reveal a picture of the virus’ spread that was previously invisible. In Seattle, schools and one skyscraper closed, but health experts cautioned that closures can have downsides. On Monday, the F5 technology company said it was closing its 44-story tower in downtown Seattle after learning an employee had been in contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. The employee tested negative, but company spokesman Rob Gruening said the tower was closed as a precaution.
More than 10 schools in the Seattle area were closed for deep cleaning over virus concerns, although the city-county public health department said it was not yet recommending longer-term school closures or cancellation of activities.
Closing schools and canceling large gatherings are what’s called social distancing, the idea that distancing people will reduce the spread of the illness. The evidence for those steps is “not as strong as we would like it to be,” Jennifer Nuzzo of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security cautioned Monday during a webinar. Measures such as school closures have been used during flu outbreaks, but the new coronavirus isn’t acting exactly like flu. And such steps are not guaranteed to protect. “Maybe it makes people more likely to stay at home. Maybe it doesn’t if people re-congregate elsewhere,” Nuzzo said. Trump and members of his Cabinet met at the White House with executives of 10 pharmaceutical companies to discuss ways to speed the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus. There are no proven treatments for COVID-19. The University of Nebraska Medical Center also began testing remdesivir in some Americans who were found to have COVID-19 after being evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan. It’s not clear how quickly such studies will answer whether any of the drugs help. Many patients recover without needing any treatment. The biggest concern is how to help the fraction who become severely ill.
A glimpse of the future. I have been to the pandemic land and its a living HELL!
Coronavirus concerns are sending shoppers into panic-buying mode across the country. Bare shelves and frayed nerves were on full display over the weekend at Bay Area grocery stores as the coronavirus continued to spread. Shoppers described chaotic scenes, many of which were shared on social media: stacks of rice and toilet paper snatched up within seconds, checkout lines that snaked through entire stores, and jam-packed parking lots reminiscent of Christmas Eve. It’s the latest ripple effect of the outbreak of a still mysterious respiratory illness that in the past two months has caused more than 89,000 people around the world to fall ill. The virus that only a few weeks ago was mostly confined to China now has recorded cases in more than 60 nations.
With numbers climbing and no vaccine available, institutions such as the World Health Organization and the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent days have warned that people should be prepared for a pandemic situation, including the possibility of having to stay confined in their homes for one or two weeks.
The results of that warning could be glimpsed in the depleted shelves and long lines in stores this weekend. “You see the videos of people loading water into their cars during hurricanes, stacks and stacks of them. That’s what was going on,” said Jeff Christner of Pacifica, who had an unexpectedly long trip with his wife to Costco in South San Francisco on Friday evening. “We couldn’t even believe it.” “People were panic-buying,” Christner said. The self-proclaimed “preparedness freak” managed to buy some of the small items on his list — batteries, canned chicken and medicine — but found many empty boxes. “I honestly couldn’t believe it. I didn’t expect to see what I saw.” People working at such stores played down the pandemonium, but agreed that it was not a normal weekend. “On a usual Saturday we have 3,000 customers. This Saturday we had 600 come through the first hour,” said a worker at the Costco in Richmond. “They’re buying the essentials — the news is telling us we need to be stocked up for 30 days.” Food products with a long shelf life were in demand, such as pasta or Spam or canned ham. The selection of rice available early Sunday afternoon consisted of several dozen 20-pound bags of basmati rice near the checkout counters: “Usually we’ll have six different varieties, with three to four pallets of each,” said the employee. The scene playing out with food hoarding is a more frenzied case of what has occurred in recent weeks in hardware stores, where face masks are all but impossible to find.
United States President Donald Trumps met with pharmaceutical companies to discuss “progress” made in finding a treatment for coronavirus, the president stressed on Monday. “I am met with the major pharmaceutical companies today at the White House about progress on a vaccine and cure. Progress being made!” Trump tweeted. On Sunday, he asserted that the country takes the “most aggressive” approach to contain coronavirus, adding that the US is going to increase screenings of the passengers that enter or leave the country. The infection killed two persons in the United States with 88 people tested positive for COVID-19 nationwide.
