Coronavirus: China's stock market plummets as country's death toll climbs past 360 – live updates | World news | The Guardian
Trading has resumed on China’s stock markets after the lunch break. The losses have been staunched slightly from the falls of almost 9% earlier in the day but it’s still very ugly. Oil has lost 51c to $56.11 a barrel, reflecting concerns about slowing demand in the global economy.
- The Shanghai Composite is off 7.91%
- Shenzhen Component down 7.59%
- The Australian ASX200 has closed down 1.34%
- The Nikkei is off 0.85%
- Kospi in Seoul is down 0.12
- Hang Seng up 0.26%
- Brent crude loses 51c to $56.11 a barrel
- The yuan has fallen to 7.01 to the US dollar, its worst since August
- Futures point to 0.55 lift on FTSE100
- Dow Jones expected to rise 0.75%
https://twitter.com/S_Rabinovitch/status/1224199130555117568
Interesting that the Hong Kong market is up today. It’s the only major bourse in the black and perhaps says more about the medium term outlook on the markets, where many expect the Chinese econonmy to bounce back once the virus is under control.
Simon Rabinovitch (@S_Rabinovitch)The 8% plunge in Chinese stocks today is, understandably, making headlines. But good reporters all note that this is catch-up after a long holiday. More surprising is the stability in HK market. Do investors really think they've priced in the effects of the epidemic? pic.twitter.com/ry24SzXxNF
February 3, 2020
There seems a fairly concerted effort just now to put a positive spin on how China is handling the virus, with a series of tweets from state media. They include:
- The government promising to purchase the surplus production from enterprises when coronavirus epidemic ends
- The overall production of face masks in China exceeding 20m per day – “the highest in the world”
- The virus stimulating online shopping and online entertainment, despite its impact on other industries. “China has better capabilities to contain the economic impact of the epidemic compared to the time of SARS outbreak: official”, reports the Global Times
My personal favourite is this video below from CGTN, which says people have chosen to stay in Wuhan because of “love, people and responsibilities”. “Everyone is united and we will work together to battle the coronavirus,” it says, adding: “I believe everything will be back to normal. Cherry blossoms will bloom, streets will be busy and people will have hot dry noodles for breakfast at restaurants.”
CGTN (@CGTNOfficial)“My city is hit by the coronavirus, but we will get through it”
This video is for everyone who is fighting against the #coronavirus https://t.co/k7je5yy5LE pic.twitter.com/2Co0ABzOzU
February 3, 2020
A close second is the People’s Daily most recent post of a field of “thriving” rape flowers. “That’s the brightness we need,” the post says.
People's Daily, China (@PDChina)That’s the brightness we need! A vast field of thriving rape flowers light up the Meijiang County in E China’s #Jiangxi. pic.twitter.com/VY5Oe65o4P
February 3, 2020
Updated at 12.47am EST
The city of Guyuan, 1,200km north-east of Wuhan, has brought in new measures to stop the virus spread according to state-run media. It means no more than 25 people are allowed in every 100 sq metres in public venues.
Global Times (@globaltimesnews)Strictest measure to curb the spread of #nCoV2019! No more than 25 people allowed in every 100 square meters in public venues, announced the govt of Guyuan, a city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. pic.twitter.com/Rh1i2yalWM
February 3, 2020
Hong Kong medical workers go on strike, demanding closure of China border
Hundreds of Hong Kong medical workers walked off their jobs on Monday, demanding the city close its border with China to reduce the coronavirus spreading - with frontline staff threatening to follow in the coming days. Hong Kong has 15 confirmed cases of the virus. The action by non-essential medical staff comes as authorities refuse to completely seal the border, instead closing down some crossings.
Medical workers hold a strike near Queen Elizabeth Hospital, demanding Hong Kong close its border with China to reduce the coronavirus spreading. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters
The extended lunar new year ended in China today, raising concerns that travel across the country could impact the spread of the virus. Agence France-Presse reports that in Beijing, some neighbourhoods have sealed themselves off – including with homemade barriers – to force visitors or anyone returning home from the holiday to register their travel history.
One district in northern Shijiazhuang city is offering cash incentives of 2,000 yuan ($288) AFP says, for reporting anyone who has travelled to Wuhan in the past two weeks.
For some communities, anyone who has visited central Hubei province - of which Wuhan is the capital - is no longer welcome at all.
“Even if you live here, you can’t enter,” said a security guard at the entrance of a Beijing neighbourhood when asked about returning Hubei residents.
“Those from Hubei could bring the infection here,” he told AFP, wearing a blue mask. “If you’re from Hubei, you have to notify the neighbourhood committee.”
Chinese residents line up to get a free protective mask at a local pharmacy in Beijing. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
France's evacuation flights from Wuhan carry 36 people showing virus symptoms
Frances’s health minister has confirmed that 36 people on an evacuation flight from Wuhan were showing symptoms of the coronavirus.
In all, 254 people arrived in France from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the deadly virus was first detected, on the second such flight.
“About 20 people who presented symptoms have stayed on the tarmac,” at Istres airport in the south of France to undergo further testing, Agnes Buzyn said. They included French and non-European nationals, Agence France-Presse reported.
Tests were carried out to establish whether they had the coronavirus and the results will be known on Monday.
Passengers are checked as they disembark from a plane carrying French citizens flown out of Wuhan. Photograph: HANDOUT/ECPAD/AFP via Getty Images
A further 16 foreign nationals displaying symptoms were flown back to their respective countries.
The second evacuation flight was carrying people of 30 different nationalities, most of them European. Sixty five of the returnees were French.
A total of 124 non-French evacuees swiftly travelled on to their home countries, according to military sources in Istres, AFP says.
Nine Belgians and three of their partners as well as 15 Dutch citizens and their two Chinese partners were isolated after travelling on from Istres to a military airport near Brussels, according to Belga news agency.
However, 60 others from Mexico, Rwanda, Brazil and Georgia remained on French soil, Buzyn told reporters.
So far in France, only six cases of coronavirus have been detected.
A bus carrying French citizens flown out of Wuhan is escorted by the French Gendarmerie from the Istres-Le Tube Air Base near Istres, on its way to The Vacanciel Holiday Resort in Carry-le-Rouet, where other people are in quarantine following their repatriation, on February 2, 2020. - G7 countries will dis. Photograph: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP via Getty Images
Updated at 12.10am EST
China’s state-run People’s Daily is publishing pictures of the air force bringing in medical staff and supplies to Wuhan.
People's Daily, China (@PDChina)Eight large transport aircraft dispatched by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force Sunday landed at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, delivering 795 military medical staff and 58 tonnes of supplies to help the city fight against the novel #coronavirus epidemic. pic.twitter.com/AjKL34xVwp
February 3, 2020
Vietnam confirms three new cases
Vietnam has confirmed three new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total cases in the country to eight.
Women wear protective masks while they take part in morning exercises by the Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photograph: KHAM/Reuters
11th case confirmed in the US
Health officials in California said there were now 11 confirmed case of the virus in the country, adding three to the previous tally.
A woman in Santa Clara county and the family she is staying with are being quarantined and she is now in isolation at their home. However, the woman, who recently travelled to Wuhan, was not sick enough to require hospitalisation.
The other two cases involve a married couple in San Benito county, the San Benito county public health services announced in a release late Sunday.
Summary
Here’s a summary of what we know so far today on the coronavirus outbreak:
- 361 people have died in China, one in the Philippines
- Confirmed infections in China are 17,238 (official Chinese figures include Taiwan, Hong Kong Macao)
- Outside of China, infections stand at more than 150 (for simplicity of comparison between the numbers, I have removed Taiwan [10], Hong Kong [15] and Macao [8] from this global figure)
- China’s markets plunged on opening, on the first day of trading since the extended lunar new year. Shanghai fell 8.7%
- A Qantas charter flight carrying Australian citizens has departed Wuhan
- New Zealand has banned foreign travellers from China from entering
- The new hospital in Wuhan, built to accommodate coronavirus patients, is due to open on Monday
Updated at 11.05pm EST
The eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province on Sunday closed roads and confined people to their homes to try and stop the spread of the virus. Wenzhou, an industrial port city, is 800km (500 miles) from Wuhan, where the health emergency began. It has a population of around three million.
Passengers wearing protective faceasks sit as they arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Photograph: Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
Three officials in China’s Zhejiang province are reported to have been “penalised for their negligence of duty after failing to report seven infected cases” of coronavirus, Chinese state media is reporting.
One source of figures on the deaths and infections from the coronavirus that we have been referring to is from Johns Hopkins University in the US. Its tracker shows Chinese and global cases of infections and deaths, including visual representations of the virus. Below is a snapshot of what it’s showing now. The headline figures are:
- 17,318 confirmed cases globally
- 362 deaths globally (all in China except one in Philippines)
It’s worth noting that they separate out cases in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, whereas the Chinese Health Commission groups them in their figure all under China.
Graph showing global infections from the coronavirus as collated by Johns Hopkins university. Photograph: Johns Hopkins University CSSE
Updated at 9.42pm EST
China’s currency, the yuan, is also having a torrid time today. It has fallen back through the seven-to-the-dollar mark to trade at its lowest point since December.
The higher the number the weaker it is because, unlike with most other currencies, its movements tend to be expressed in yuan rather than the US dollar. For example, the Aussie dollar is usually quoted in US cents – today its standing at US66.9c.
YUAN TALKS (@YuanTalks)
Onshore #yuan and offshore yuan both break through 7/USD mark pic.twitter.com/0TcWVWeZTj
February 3, 2020
Tom Orlik (@TomOrlik)
Yuan crashes through 7 to the dollar pic.twitter.com/qRUvDqSerW
February 3, 2020