Virus Update: Director of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan Dies
The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission confirmed that Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan had died from the virus on Tuesday morning.
According to a live report from CCTV, medical staff from Beijing Hospital said Liu died from the coronavirus after all the rescue efforts had failed.
Nearly two weeks ago, local authorities reprimanded doctor Li Wenliang for his early warnings about the virus. He also succumbed to the virus.
HSBC braces for coronavirus impact
HSBC, which earns most of its profits from Asia, said it expected to feel the effect of the virus outbreak in the first quarter. In its global economic outlook, HSBC said it had lowered its expectations in China for 2020. However, they expect some improvements as China contains the virus.
Noel Quinn, HSBC’s interim chief executive, says it’s possible to see revenue declines due to lower transactions, lower lending volumes, and more credit losses – all due to customer supply chain disruptions.
Noel Quinn said this as the bank released its pitiful year earnings for 2019.
The virus slams India’s poultry industry
India’s poultry industry has lost close to $182 million (13 billion rupees) in three weeks following social media speculation that chickens spread the virus.
The speculation dented demand for chicken and nearly reduced the prices by half. The sudden decline in sales hit millions of poultry farmers.
Earlier this month, the WHO said the virus likely spread from bats to the immediate host , poultry, before infecting humans. Scientists are now running tests on various animals; however, they have not found the host responsible for the outbreak.
Singapore Airlines reduces flight routes as demand declines
Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary- SilkAir will temporarily cancel some flights because of the low demand arising from the virus outbreak.
They will notify and re-accommodate affected customers onto other flights.
Routes affected are services to New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul, Taipei, Sydney, and Kuala Lumpur.
China reduces the time for tests to detect the virus
China has drastically cut down the time needed for nucleic acid testing for coronavirus from two days to just four to six hours. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
According to its translation, the outbreak is trending in a positive direction, although the epidemic situation in Wuhan and Hubei remains fluid and complex.
In the press release, they also discussed the need to strike a balance between epidemic control and socio-economic development.
More than 80% of state-owned firms have resumed work
By Monday, more than 80% state-owned firms and close to 20,000 subsidiaries had resumed work.
China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission confirmed. According to the commission, more than 95% of those firms were petrochemicals, petroleum, telecommunications, power generation, power grid, and transportation.
In equipment manufacturing, mining, and steel had more than 80% resume work.
People on Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive
Out of the 1723 passengers on board, more than 450 people were confirmed positive. 189 were asymptomatic carriers or those tested positive but did not show any symptoms. Japan’s health ministry said.
Some countries, including the US, have started repatriating their stranded citizens on chartered planes. Fourteen of its passengers were tested positive and allowed the evacuation while in isolation from other passengers.
The ship has been quarantined since Feb.3 after previous guests tested positive for the virus six days after disembarking.
Volkswagen postpones reopening some China plants
Volkswagen says they are working hard to get back to their regular production schedule. However, they were facing delays because of the low national supply chain, logistics challenges, and limited travel options for production employees.
Total death toll from coronavirus at 1,868, China says
According to the Chinese National Health Commission, they had confirmed 1886 new cases on the mainland and 98 more deaths related to the virus in Hubei province.
On Monday, Feb. 17, the government said they had confirmed 72,436 cases, and 1868 people had died.
Hubei province reported 93 additional deaths. However, the numbers were slightly lower compared to the previous day, which reported 100 deaths.
Australian mining giant BHP warns on outlook
On Tuesday, BHP said the virus outbreak affecting more than 70,000dowpeople, mostly in China, was one of the significant uncertainties for BHP’s future.
In a regulatory filing, the company said if China did not contain the outbreak within the March quarter, they would revise their expectations for economic and commodity demand growth downwards.
The company’s shares listed in Australia traded up 035%.
Apple blames coronavirus for its delayed quarterly sales forecast
On Monday, Apple said it would not need its quarterly revenue forecast following the virus outbreak. The coronavirus outbreak has affected the global supply of iPhones and lower Chinese demand.
Apple has opened all its iPhone manufacturing partner sites; however, ramping up slower than they had expected.
Supply shortages will temporarily affect global revenues. Many retail stores and Apple’s shops were either closed or offering reduced hours for the past few weeks.
Non-professional runners curse coronavirus as organizers close the Tokyo Marathon
Two weeks ahead of the Tokyo Marathon, race organizers booted all non-professional runners out of the annual marathon.
Some of them took to social media to express their frustrations over sunk entry fees, airfare costs, and time wasted in training.
Ryan Lederer from Chicago felt his inability to run in March felt like a waste after months of preparation even though he agreed with prioritizing public safety.
