Coronavirus hits 10 Italian towns kills 6 and 230 affected
Ten-Towns in Italy’s wealthy northern regions battled to contain the biggest outbreak of coronavirus outside Asia. Officials have imposed strict quarantine and said that a sixth Italian has died from the virus as the infection count rose to 230, up from three identified cases on Friday morning.
Billions were wiped off stock markets around the world today as fears sprawled of coronavirus pandemic fuelled by people without symptoms passing on the infection.
South Korea reported 231 new cases, taking their total affected cases to 833 with eight deaths.
The last days of Venice carnival and several Series A football fixtures were cancelled and closed schools and universities. Large Italian companies including Bank UniCredit told employees in affected towns not to come to work. Giuseppe Conte the prime minister said “ I was surprised by this explosion of cases. WE will do everything to contain the contagion”.
In Italy police have established a blockade around a cluster of 10 communities south of Milan with a population of 50, 000 people. Those in the affected areas have been told not to leave their houses, while anyone entering the area has been warned by the police they will not be allowed to leave. If they disobey fines or potential imprisonment. Till now Italian authorities have not been able to identify the exact source of the outbreak and how it has apparently spread so quickly between patients who had no direct contact with travellers from China.
France’s health minister Olivier Vera said that new cases of coronavirus in France were “very likely” and health authorities were ready in case of an epidemic and was particularly watchful of the situation in Italy.
In Iran, authorities shut schools and universities as the number of deaths rose to fifty prompting Iraq and Turkey to close their borders.
China had reported 409 new cases to bring total infections to 77, 150 cases.
Global stocks tumbled sharply as a surge of coronavirus cases outside China rattled investors and ruined hopes that the outbreak had been contained.
UK stocks had their worst day in five years with airlines and tour operators among the hardest hit. Shares in Easyjet fell 17 per cent and Ryanair 13 per cent.
Italy’s MIB index dropping 5.4 per cent – its biggest fall since 2016.
In the US Nasdaq was down 3.5 per cent at midday with the S&P500 3 per cent lower.
Investors shifted to the safety of government debt, pushing the yield on the US 10-year Treasury down 11 basis points to 1.36 per cent.
Despite the outbreak in Italy, EU authorities said there were no plans to suspend travel in the 26-country Schengen area of visa-free travel.
The Brent crude price fell 5.4 per cent to $55.38 a barrel. Gold rallied 1.9 per cent to $1674.70 per troy ounce.
In Europe Stoxx 600 fell 3.8 per cent, while the FTSE 100 ended the day 3.3 per cent lower. Seoul’s Kospi Index fell 3.9 per cent.
700 people are confined to their rooms at a hotel on Spain’s Tenerife island following an outbreak will remain in isolation for 14 days as the hotel was placed in lockdown on Tuesday after an Italian doctor staying in the hotel tested positive for the virus.
German air base locked down, Luftwaffenkaserne Wahn air base in Cologne is also in lockdown after a service member came into contact with a critically ill patient with suspected coronavirus.
The total number of cases globally has reached over 80, 980.