Coronavirus pandemic latest
The UK government’s Rishi Sunak unveiled £350bn- 15 per cent of GDP rescue packaged yesterday to try to stave off economic disaster, as struggling firms will be able to tap low-interest loans from a new fund worth £330bn. The remaining £20bn will pay for a business rates holiday and cash handouts to smaller companies. Business interruption loans will be increased to $5million up from the £1.2m announced in last week’s budget, with no interest due for six months. The funding can go towards rent, salaries, supplies and the purchase of stock.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that schools in the UK will close by this Friday to prevent further spread of coronavirus. Schools will close except for looking after te children of keyworkers and vulnerable children. Exams will not go ahead, education secretary Gavin Williamson said.
In UK London worst affected by Coronavirus outbreak as 621 confirmed cases and 25 deaths compared to 10 deaths in the West Midlands. According to NHS England, those who died were aged between 45 and 93 and all had underlying health conditions. Britons have been advised to avoid all non-essential foreign travel for 30 days as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Banks have offered a three-month mortgage holiday for those whose finances are hit by the pandemic. A change in law will allow pubs and restaurants to convert into takeaways without planning consent.
Small and medium-sized pubs, restaurants and theatres will get a cash grant of up to £25, 000. The help will go to those whose rateable value is less than £51, 000.
All entertainment venues will get a business rates holiday this year.
The 700, 000 smallest businesses, who do not pay rates, will get £10, 000 in cash.
Donald Trump’s White House proposed sending a cheque to every Americans within two weeks as part of the stimulus package to limit the damage to the US economy from the coronavirus outbreak according to the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The Trump administration has also proposed cutting payroll taxes, which fund government pensions and health-care programmes and adds stimulus to stricken sectors of the economy. Democrats are pushing for measures more tailored towards low-income families such as unemployment assistance, food aid, and loan forbearance. Trump administration would ask Congress for a new stimulus package worth between $800bn and $850bn.
Facebook is giving $100 as a bonus to each of its 45, 000 employees to support them with liquid cash in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
Facebook has already asked its Seattle and Bay Area employees to work from home. Bay Area employees to work from home. Facebook also announced it is offering $100m in cash grants and credits for up to 30, 000 eligible small businesses in over 30 countries.
Mr. Sunak joined other European countries in aiming fiscal firepower at companies facing months of disruption and possible collapse.
The British rescue package which comes on top of the £7bn of financial support announced in last week’s budget along with £50bn for public services and the NHS.
Boris Johnson hinted that schools could soon face closure as he said he might have to go “further and faster” to try to halt the virus which has now claimed 71 lives in the UK.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez triggered the “biggest mobilisation of resources Spain’s democratic history to fight the crisis included a €100bn of state loan guarantees.
Italy despite a lockdown or the last 10 days across the country, the death toll form this virus has continue to rise by 475 on Wednesday the biggest oe day since the outbreak began.
France intervened with a €45bn rescue package, with Paris guaranteeing €300bn of bank loan to businesses to ensure they do not collapse.
The infection control experiment that was rolled out in a small Italian community at the start of Europe’s coronavirus crisis has stopped the spread of new diseases in the town at the centre of the country’s outbreak.
Through testing and retesting of all 3, 300 inhabitants of the town of Vo near Venice, regardless of whether they were exhibiting symptoms and rigorous quarantining of their contacts once the infection was confirmed, health authorities have been able to stop the spread of the illness there. The success underscores the Importance of testing and isolating otherwise healthy carriers, an approach strongly endorsed by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organisation chief. South Korea and Taiwan were successful in limiting infections by doing testing, retesting and rigorous isolation.
In the UK there are a whole lot of infections that are completely ignored.
| Country | Total Cases | Total Deaths | Total Recovered |
| China | 80,894 | 3,237 | 69,614 |
| Italy | 31,506 | 2,503 | 2,941 |
| Iran | 17,361 | 1,135 | 5,710 |
| Spain | 13,910 | 623 | 1,081 |
| Germany | 11,302 | 27 | 86 |
| S Korea | 8,413 | 84 | 1,540 |
| France | 7,730 | 175 | 602 |
| USA | 7,636 | 117 | 106 |
| Switzerland | 3,076 | 33 | 15 |
| UK | 2,626 | 104 | 65 |
| Neterlands | 2,051 | 58 | 2 |
| Norway | 1,646 | 4 | 9 |
| Belgium | 1,486 | 14 | 31 |
| Austria | 1,646 | 4 | 9 |
| Sweden | 1,292 | 8 | 1 |
| Denmark | 1,057 | 4 | 1 |
| Japan | 899 | 29 | 144 |
| Malaysia | 790 | 2 | 60 |
| Canada | 598 | 8 | 12 |
| Australia | 565 | 6 | 43 |
| Czechia | 464 | 0 | 3 |
| Portugal | 642 | 2 | 4 |
| Qatar | 442 | 0 | 4 |
| Israel | 433 | 0 | 11 |
| Greece | 387 | 5 | 14 |
| Brazil | 367 | 1 | 2 |
| Finland | 359 | 0 | 10 |
| Ireland | 292 | 2 | 5 |
| Solvenia | 286 | 1 | 0 |
| Singapore | 313 | 0 | 114 |
| Estonia | 258 | 0 | 1 |
| Pakistan | 256 | 0 | 2 |
| Iceland | 250 | 0 | 5 |
| Poland | 246 | 5 | 1 |
| Romania | 246 | 0 | 19 |
| Bahrain | 255 | 1 | 88 |
| Thailand | 212 | 1 | 41 |
| Luxembourg | 203 | 2 | 0 |
| Philippines | 202 | 17 | 4 |
| Chile | 201 | 0 | 0 |
| Egypt | 196 | 6 | 26 |
| Indonesia | 227 | 19 | 11 |
| Saudi Arabia | 171 | 0 | 6 |
| Hong Kong | 181 | 4 | 92 |
| Iraq | 164 | 12 | 41 |
| India | 152 | 3 | 14 |
| Kuwait | 142 | 0 | 12 |
| Lebanon | 133 | 4 | 4 |
| San Marino | 119 | 11 | 4 |
| Peru | 117 | 0 | 1 |
| South Africa | 116 | 0 | 0 |
| Russia | 147 | 0 | 8 |
| UAE | 113 | 0 | 26 |
| Ecuador | 155 | 2 | 0 |
| Taiwan | 100 | 1 | 20 |
| Turkey | 98 | 1 | 0 |
| Solvakia | 105 | 0 | 0 |
| Mexico | 93 | 0 | 4 |
| Panama | 86 | 1 | 0 |
| Armenia | 84 | 0 | 1 |
| Serbia | 83 | 0 | 1 |
| Bulgaria | 81 | 2 | 0 |
| Croatia | 81 | 0 | 5 |
| Argentina | 79 | 2 | 3 |
| Colombia | 75 | 0 | 1 |
| Latvia | 71 | 0 | 1 |
| Vietnam | 68 | 0 | 16 |
| Algeria | 72 | 6 | 10 |
| Hungary | 58 | 1 | 2 |
| Faerore Islands | 58 | 0 | 1 |
| Brunei | 56 | 0 | 0 |
| Albania | 55 | 2 | 0 |
| Costa Rica | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| Uruguay | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| Cyrpus | 49 | 0 | 0 |
| Jordan | 48 | 0 | 1 |
| Sri Lanka | 51 | 0 | 3 |
| Morocco | 49 | 2 | 1 |
| Palestine | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| Andorra | 39 | 0 | 1 |
| Georgia | 38 | 0 | 1 |
| Malta | 48 | 0 | 2 |
| Belarus | 36 | 0 | 3 |
| Venezuela | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| Cambodia | 35 | 0 | 1 |
| Kazakhstan | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| Azerbaijan | 34 | 1 | 6 |
| Bosnia & Herzegvina | 34 | 0 | 2 |
| Oman | 33 | 0 | 12 |
| North Macedonia | 31 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 208,550 | 8,312 | 83,230 |
| Updated March 18, 17:17GMT | ] |