World Breaking News (2024)

03/02/2020

Aussie share market plunges at open on coronavirus fears
Investor “panic” has set in as a dramatic sell-off on the Australian share market has resulted in billions of dollars being wiped on open.
The Australian share market has plunged at the opening of trade after the rising death toll from the coronavirus over the weekend dawned on investors and economic fears set in.

The local benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 94.6 points, or 1.35 per cent, at 6922.6 at 1030.
The market had lost nearly $40 billion in the first 15 minutes of trade, with the energy sector the hardest hit, down 3.5 per cent when the gauge was taken after 30 minutes of trading.

But the carnage was reserved for the Chinese markets, with the Shanghai Composite index spiralling 8.7 per cent lower.

The death toll from the coronavirus epidemic rose to 304 on Sunday as countries began to tighten the movement of travellers who had visited the epicentre of the outbreak in China’s Hubei province.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison followed Washington’s decision over the weekend to bar most foreigners entering from China. Japan and Singapore announced similar measures.

This escalation of the spread of the deadly virus has led to investors pulling back and retreating to safe haven industries and shares such as gold miners, Bell Direct market analyst Jessica Amir said.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty with the coronavirus with the death toll rising but we do have to bear in mind that more people have died of the common cold,” she told news.com.au.

“So this is really panic selling.”

Investors are cautious the crippling lockdown will have material impacts on the supply chain of trade and stunt the world’s second largest economy.

This development combined with negative expectations for the region — mainly Goldman Sachs predicting China’s GDP to fall — has compounded growth sentiment.
Oil prices are lower again on mounting worries about the economic damage to flow from the fast-spreading virus. Australian Gas and oil producer Oil Search’s shares were down more than 7.5 per cent at $6.69 at 10.30.

Big miners were also down, with Fortescue Metals Group losing 36 cents, or 3.16 per cent, to $11.03.

Travel shares were pummelled again. Qantas lost 14 cents, or 2.18 per cent, to $6.72 and Flight Centre was down 97 cents, or 2.47 per cent, at $38.34.

Gold miners surged as demand for the precious metal keeps rising based on investors retreating for safe haven assets.

Newcrest was up 41.5 cents, or 1.41 per cent, at $29.94.

The Australian dollar was buying 66.93 US cents, down from 67.19 US as the market closed on Friday.

ASIAN SHARES SET FOR GLOOMY DAY

Data out of the United States and Europe on Friday pointed to economic weakness while a mixed batch of corporate earnings added to the gloom.

Today’s decline in Asian equities follows a steep sell-off in global share markets, which, on Friday, posted their biggest weekly and monthly declines amid growing concerns about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

On Friday, the Dow fell 2.1 per cent, the S&P 500 declined 1.8 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6 per cent.

— with AAP and Reuters

03/02/2020

Coronavirus claims 57 lives in one day
The number of deaths from the new coronavirus in China has risen to 361, with thousands of news cases and 57 deaths in one day.
The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in China has risen to 361, including 57 more deaths in the past 24 hours, health authorities have revealed.

In that time period there has also been an additional 2829 new cases bringing the Chinese total to 17,205.

The latest figures come a day after the first death from the illness was recorded outside China, in the Philippines, as countries around the world evacuated hundreds of their citizens from the infection zone.
Chinese authorities completed a new, rapidly constructed 1000-bed hospital for victims of the outbreak and delayed the reopening of schools in the hardest-hit province.

Restrictions were tightened still further in one city by allowing only one family member to venture out to buy supplies every other day.

The Philippine Health Department said a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan, the city at the centre of the crisis, was hospitalised on January 25 with a fever, cough and sore throat and died after developing severe pneumonia.
The man’s 38-year-old female companion, also from Wuhan, tested positive for the virus as well and remained hospitalised in isolation in Manila.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte approved a ban on the entry of all non-citizens from China. The US, Japan, Singapore and Australia have imposed similar restrictions despite criticism from China and an assessment from the World Health Organisation that such measures were unnecessarily hurting trade and travel.

The vast majority of those infected are in China; about 150 cases have been reported in two dozen other countries - this includes 13 cases in Australia.

The US on Sunday reported its ninth case, this one involving a woman in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Santa Clara County who arrived in the US to visit family after recently travelling to Wuhan.

A hospital specially built to handle coronavirus patients in Wuhan is expected to open on Monday, just 10 days after construction began. A second hospital is set to open soon after.

Also, six officials in the city of Huanggang, next to Wuhan in Hubei province, were fired over “poor performance” in handling the outbreak, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

It cited the mayor as saying the city’s “capabilities to treat the patients remained inadequate and there is a severe shortage in medical supplies such as protective suits and medical masks.”
The trading and manufacturing centre of Wenzhou, with nearly 10 million people in coastal Zhejiang province, confined people to their homes, allowing only one family member to venture out every other day to buy necessary supplies.

Huanggang, home to 7 million people, imposed similar measures on Saturday.

With no end in sight to the outbreak, authorities in Hubei and elsewhere have extended the Lunar New Year holiday break, due to end this week, well into February to try to keep people at home and reduce the spread of the virus. All Hubei schools are postponing the start of the new semester until further notice.

The crisis is the latest to confront Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has been beset by months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, the re-election of Taiwan’s pro-independence president and criticism over human rights violations in the traditionally Muslim territory of Xinjiang.

Meanwhile, the domestic economy continues to slow, weighed down by slowing demand and the trade war with Washington.

New Zealand announced Sunday it is temporarily barring travellers from China to protect the South Pacific region from the virus. The 14-day ban applies to foreigners leaving China but not to New Zealand residents. New Zealand also raised its travel advice for China to “Do not travel,” the highest level. Qatar Airways joined the growing number of airlines suspending flights to mainland China. Indonesia and Oman also halted flights, as did Saudi Arabia’s flagship national carrier, Saudia.
Saudi Arabia’s state-run media reported that 10 Saudi students were evacuated from Wuhan on a special flight. It said the students would be screened on arrival and quarantined for 14 days.

Over the weekend, South Korea and India flew hundreds of their citizens out of Wuhan. A Turkish military transport plane carrying 42 people arrived in Ankara on Saturday night. A French-chartered plane made its way toward France on Sunday with 300 evacuees from a multitude of European and African countries. And Morocco flew home 167 of its people, mostly students.

Indonesia flew back 241 citizens from Wuhan on Sunday and quarantined them on the remote Natuna Islands for two weeks. Several hundred residents protested the move.
Europe so far has 25 people infected with the virus. The German Red Cross reported two more cases there on Sunday, both German citizens who were flown from Wuhan on Saturday on a military transport carrying 128 people. Eight earlier cases in Germany were all linked to an auto parts factory. France has six cases; Russia, Italy and Britain have two each, and Finland, Sweden and Spain each have one.

Vietnam counted its seventh case, a Vietnamese-American man who had a two-hour layover in Wuhan on his way from the U.S. to Ho Chi Minh City.

The country ordered schools to close for at least a week in 19 of its 54 provinces and cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which together account for over 4 million students.

03/02/2020

China completes new virus hospital
China's new hospital for isolating coronavirus patients has been finished in just 10 days, as the toll from the virus continues to grow.
China has finished building a 1,000-bed hospital for treating victims of the coronavirus that has caused 362 deaths and more than 17,000 infections at home and abroad, according to the latest figures on Monday.

The specialised hospital in Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan was completed in just 10 days. A second hospital with 1,500 beds is also under construction.

Restrictions have tightened still further for local residents by allowing only one family member to venture out to buy supplies every other day.

China's new totals of 361 deaths and 2,829 new cases over the last 24 hours, bringing the Chinese total to 17,205, come as other countries continued evacuating hundreds of their citizens and imposed travel restrictions affecting Chinese or people who recently travelled in the country.

The Philippines banned the entry of all non-citizens from China after two cases were confirmed there, including the only death outside China. The US, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia have imposed similar restrictions.

About 150 cases have been reported in two dozen other countries.

Six officials in the city of Huanggang, next to Wuhan in Hubei province, were fired over "poor performance" in handling the outbreak, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It cited the mayor as saying the city's "capabilities to treat the patients remained inadequate and there is a severe shortage in medical supplies such as protective suits and medical masks."

With no end in sight to the outbreak, authorities in Hubei and elsewhere have extended the Lunar New Year holiday break, due to end this week, well into February to try to keep people at home and reduce the spread of the virus. All Hubei schools are postponing the start of the new semester until further notice.

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03/02/2020

03/02/2020

03/02/2020

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