Mar 27, 2020 09:51 PM

Coronavirus Live Updates (Friday): Italy Adds Nearly 1,000 Deaths in a Day; Congress Passes $2 Trillion U.S. Relief Package

Friday, March 27, 11.59 p.m.

In Italy, the European country worst-hit by coronavirus, the number of deaths climbed by 969 to 9,134 Friday, the largest daily rise since the outbreak began, according to Italy's Civil Protection Agency. The total number of cases in Italy, including deaths and those who recovered, reached 86,498, the second-highest after the U.S.

Italy has not reached the peak of coronavirus contagion, director of Italy’s National Health Institute Silvio Brusaferro said Friday during a press conference.

England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has coronavirus symptoms and is self-isolating at home, he said Friday in a tweet. Matt Hancock, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, tested positive for coronavirus, he confirmed in a video posted to Twitter Friday. They joined Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the British government’s Covid-19 sick list.

The French government extended coronavirus confinement measures until April 15, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Friday. Belgium extended its lockdown for the coronavirus crisis by two weeks until April 18.

The U.S. House of Representatives Friday approved a historic $2 trillion coronavirus response package, clearing the way for President Donald Trump’s signature.

The largest emergency aid package in American history includes sending checks directly to individuals and families, an expansion of unemployment benefits, money for hard-hit hospitals and health-care providers, financial assistance for small businesses and $500 billion in loans for distressed companies. The total number of confirmed cases in the U.S. approached 93,000 Friday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a leadership meeting (link in Chinese) Friday to analyze the Covid-19 response and economic performance. The meeting calling for greater efforts to adjust and implement macro policies, including proactive fiscal policy, prudent and more flexible monetary policy and appropriate increase in the fiscal deficit, issuance of special bonds, increase of special-purpose local government bonds and maintaining adequate liquidity.

Compiled by Denise Jia

Friday, March 27, 6 p.m.

Spain recorded 769 new deaths on Friday, taking the total number in the country to 4,858, Bloomberg reported. The number of recorded infections also rose by 7,871 to 64,059, the country’s health ministry said.

Global coronavirus cases topped 540,000 on Friday, with the U.S., China and Italy all exceeding 80,000 cases, according to data from John Hopkins University.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on his social media accounts Friday that he had contracted the coronavirus, and is in self-isolation at home with mild symptoms. “I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus,” he wrote, “Together we will beat this.”

China’s and U.S. presidents reinforced cooperation

Chinese president Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to collaborate on fighting Covid-19 in a phone call on Friday, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Xi promised that China will continue providing timely virus-related information to the World Health Organization and other countries including the United States, and called for cooperation among G-20 nations to stabilize the global economy.

China’s industrial profits post steepest fall since 1999

Chinese industrial profits plummeted 38.3% in January and February compared with the same period last year, the biggest slump since 1999, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday. State-owned enterprises reported a 32.9% year-on-year drop in profits while private companies’ profits fell 36.6% in the first two months of 2020. The mining, manufacturing and power sectors all saw profits fall more than 20%, led by manufacturing with a 42.7% year-on-year drop.

Vice Minister Zhang Weihua attributed the data to the coronavirus pandemic in a briefing. More than 20 provinces delayed resumption of work after China’s Lunar New Year holiday to help stem the spread of the virus. It has also driven companies to shorten their working hours and reduced demand, while virus protection costs have pushed up companies’ costs and squeezed margins.

The automobile, electrical equipment, chemicals and electronics industries saw some of the steepest drops, all falling more than 60% year-on-year, with electronics posting an 87% drop.

Banks put layoff plans on hold

HSBC will postpone its global layoff plan involving 35,000 employees across its branches to reassure people who are afraid of losing jobs amid the coronavirus outbreak, an internal letter from CEO Noel Quinn showed Friday. The bank also decided to pause most of its external recruitment in response to the health crisis.

Citi and Morgan Stanley likewise announced they will suspend planned job cuts amid the pandemic, Bloomberg reported. Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman told employees in a memo Thursday that the bank will not cut the workforce this year, joining a group of banks scrapping reduction schemes including Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse Group AG.

Chinese pharmacy founder charged for selling fake masks

The CEO of a Beijing pharmacy chain has been accused with selling around half a million phony 3M face masks, which earned him some 4 million yuan. This violated a new rule issued by the country’s supreme court in February, making it a criminal offense to sell counterfeit or substandard products that could hinder the containment of Covid-19.

Compiled by Lu Yutong

Caixin’s coverage of the new coronavirus

Friday, March 27, 11 a.m.

U.S. has more reported cases than China

The United States took a grim lead over China on Thursday — it now has more reported coronavirus cases than any other nation. The U.S. has recorded 85,653 cases of Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

New York City has been hard hit by the pandemic, reporting 6,448 new infections Thursday. The country’s death toll topped 1,290, with 365 in New York City and 109 in King county, Washington, where Seattle is located.

China reported one new domestic case and 54 imported cases on Thursday with 17 in Shanghai and 12 in the southern province of Guangdong, bringing the total number of imported infections to 595 as of Thursday, according to data (link in Chinese) from the National Health Commission. Five deaths were reported in Hubei province, with four in Wuhan, where the epidemic began.

Hong Kong suffered a more than 40% increase in confirmed cases, with the total number of infections there rising to 453. Taiwan reported another 83 cases while Macao reported 12. Starting Saturday, China will temporarily ban foreign nationals with visas or residence permits from entering the country out of concern that infectious arrivals could bring a new wave of cases to the country that has suffered for two months.

Italy and Spain have recorded the most Covid-19 fatalities, with 8,215 and 4,365 respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global infections topped 530,000, including 24,000 deaths.

In other coronavirus news

• Beijing instituted mandatory nucleic acid testing for everyone in the city’s hospitals with a fever, and proposed requiring all flu patients to wear face masks in public.

Compiled by Lu Yutong

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