Early Indicators Suggest Chinese Economy Cratered in February Following Coronavirus Outbreak
The new coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, have spread to more than 80 countries and territories around the world, killing thousands.
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Australia Closes Schools Amid Worrying Increase
Two schools in the Australian city of Sydney closed on Monday after three students tested positive for the coronavirus, taking Australia’s tally of cases to more than 80 as the government prepares a fiscal stimulus to ward off recession.
Australia has seen a worrying increase in coronavirus cases in the past couple of days, though Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said the majority were travelers who caught the virus abroad, with only one instance of community transmission.
Two year-10 students at Sydney’s St Patrick’s Marist College Dundas had tested positive for the virus while a year-7 pupil tested positive at the Willoughby Girls High School.
“This is likely to be the new norm,” said Brad Hazzard the minister of health for New South Wales state.
The school closures come days after another high school in Sydney shut down when a 16-year-old there tested positive.
Epping Boys High School reopened on Monday though nearly 70 students and staff who had close contact with the infected student remained in self-isolation.
Three people have died in Australia.
“This is a public health emergency of an unprecedented nature that our nation and that the entire global community is facing,” the health minister of Victoria state, Jenny Mikakos, told a televised briefing.
Her state also recorded a jump in the number of cases after two people who recently arrived from the United States and one who returned from Iran were diagnosed as infected with the virus.
“We do anticipate that this likely pandemic will have significant impacts on our health system. This has been my absolute focus, making sure that our system is prepared to respond,” Mikakos said.
Epping Boys High School, the site of Australia’s first ordered school closure after a 16-year-old pupil tested positive for the coronavirus, is pictured in Sydney, Australia on March 6, 2020. (Jaimi Joy/Reuters)Thousands Prepare to Disembark From Cruise Ship in US
U.S. officials were preparing Monday to receive thousands of people from a cruise ship that has been idling off the coast of San Francisco with at least 21 people aboard infected with the coronavirus.
Fences were being installed at an 11-acre site at the Port of Oakland, as authorities readied flights and buses to whisk the more than 2,000 passengers aboard the Grand Princess to military bases or their home countries for a 14-day quarantine. More than 3,500 on the ship hail from 54 countries.
“We’re making every effort to get them off the ship as safely and quickly as possible,” said Dr. John Redd of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who urged passengers to remain in their rooms.
As the U.S. death toll from the virus reached at least 21 and the number of cases worldwide soared above 110,000, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Oakland sought to reassure the public that none of the Grand Princess passengers would be exposed to the U.S. public before completing the quarantine. The number of infections in the United States climbed above 500 as testing for the virus increased.
The Port of Oakland was chosen for docking because of its proximity to an airport and a military base, Newsom said. U.S. passengers will be transported to military bases in California, Texas and Georgia, where they’ll be tested for the COVID-19 virus and quarantined.
About 1,100 crew on the ship, 19 of whom have tested positive for the new virus, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere, Newsom said.
“That ship will turn around—and they are currently assessing appropriate places to bring that quarantined ship—but it will not be here in the San Francisco Bay,” he said.
The Department of State was working with the home countries of several hundred passengers to arrange their repatriation, including nearly 240 from Canada.
The ship was held off the coast amid evidence it was the breeding ground for a cluster of at least 20 cases from a previous voyage.
Carrying multiple people who have tested positive for COVID-19, the Grand Princess maintains a holding pattern about 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco on March 8, 2020. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)Philippines Declares State of Emergency
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of public health emergency to try to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 disease in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
The declaration came after health authorities confirmed cases of local human-to-human transmissions over the weekend.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 constitutes an emergency that threatens national security which requires a whole-of-government response,” Duterte said on Sunday in the executive order.
“The declaration of a State of Public Health Emergency would capacitate government agencies and LGUs to immediately act to prevent loss of life, utilize appropriate resources to implement urgent and critical measures to contain or prevent the spread of COVID-19, mitigate its effects and impact to the community, and prevent serious disruption of the functioning of the government and the community.”
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday that the state of emergency will assist authorities across the various levels of government coordinate access to medical supplies and funding to help contain the virus.
Assistant Health Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire added authorities will also be able to enforce quarantine procedures.
New Zealand Extends China, Iran Travel Ban
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that her government will extend travel bans on people that have traveled through China or Iran for another seven days.
Iran on Monday said the new virus killed killed another 43 people, pushing the death toll to 237 amid 7,161 confirmed cases.
The Health Ministry announced the new figure at a news conference Monday. There are over 7,640 confirmed cases of the virus across the wider Mideast.
Some experts worry Iran may be underreporting its cases.
Workers disinfect the shrine of the Shiite Saint Imam Abdulazim to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Shahr-e-Ray, south of Tehran, Iran, on Saturday, March, 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)Saudi Arabia Starts Oil Price War Following OPEC-Russia Rift
Saudi Arabia fired the first salvo in an oil price war, slashing crude prices after OPEC’s supply pact with Russia collapsed March 6 in bitter acrimony.
State oil giant Saudi Aramco said in a statement March 7 that it was cutting its official selling price (OSP) for April for all its crude grades to all destinations, amounting to unprecedented discounts of nearly 20 percent in key markets.
The move is an overt bid to wrest market share away from Moscow, Saudi officials told The Wall Street Journal, after talks between Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) failed to agree on production cuts amid a coronavirus-driven collapse in oil demand.
While cheaper oil will translate into more affordable energy for consumers and businesses, it hurts producing countries and companies.
Oregon Declares State Of Emergency
Oregon has become the latest state in the United States to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak after seven new cases of COVID-19 were discovered.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) announced the news on March. 8 after the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) identified seven new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 14. No deaths due to the virus have been reported in the state so far.
“Nine days ago, I announced we had Oregon’s first case of COVID-19 coronavirus. Late yesterday evening, we learned of seven new cases in Oregon, bringing the total number case in our state to 14. I understand that this news is very concerning. I want to reiterate how seriously we are taking this situation,” Brown said at a press conference Sunday.
“I’ve consulted with Oregon Health Authority, and I am declaring a state of emergency to make sure we are able to swiftly deploy the personnel and resources necessary to address coronavirus in Oregon.”
The state of emergency, which will remain in effect for 60 days but can be extended, gives the Oregon Health Authority and Office of Emergency Management all resources at the state’s disposal to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the Democratic governor said.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown reacts during a press conference in Roseburg, Oreg. on Oct. 2, 2015. (Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)Iowa Confirms First 3 Presumptive Cases
Iowa confirmed its first three presumptive cases of the novel coronavirus, health officials said Sunday night.
The patients who live in Johnson County tested presumptively positive for the coronavirus after they returned to the United States on March 3 from a cruise that traveled through Egypt, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters.
Businesses in Chinese City Reluctant to Reopen
After business activities across China were halted in order to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Chinese regime, concerned about the impact on the economy, ordered all companies in non-virus-stricken areas to resume operations.
The Epoch Times obtained internal government documents from Changchun city in northeastern China, in which local officials complained that many companies were unwilling or unable to resume business due to a lack of supplies to protect against the spread of the virus: alcohol, disinfectant, and protective masks.
People visit Piazza of Duomo, virtually deserted as Italy battles a coronavirus outbreak, in Florence, Italy, on March 7, 2020. (Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters)Albania Detects First Cases in Father and Son Back From Italy
Albania reported its first coronavirus infections on Monday, in a father and son who had returned from Italy.
The two were in stable condition and they did not have complications, the health ministry said just after midnight.
Before the confirmation of the first two cases, health officials had tested some 60 cases with no sign of the virus. More than 400,000 Albanians live in neighboring Italy across the Adriatic Sea.
Isabel van Brugen, Melanie Sun, Nicole Hao, Zachary Stieber, Katabella Roberts, the Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
For updates from March 8, click here.
This article is from the Internet:Coronavirus Live Updates: Australia Closes Schools Amid Worrying Increase
Amid Virus Outbreak, China Suddenly Cancels Flights and Train Schedules in Major Cities