BitGou: Thursday Morning Briefing: Coronavirus’ “whatever it takes” moment?

Coronavirus

Coronavirus' "whatever it takes" moment?

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde may have had some communication misfires at her last news conference but the overnight action from the ECB is being widely seen as the bank's bid for a "whatever it takes" moment in the coronavirus era. The commitment to buy up assets worth 750 billion euros by year-end comes on top of the "mere" 120 billion announced last week and the 20 billion a month the bank is already feeding into the system. Added up, that's 1.1 trillion euros for the year.

On top of that was the open-ended commitment to "do everything necessary within the mandate" of the ECB to stabilise the situation. Although not quite as snappy as the three words her predecessor Mario Draghi uttered in 2012 to draw a line under the euro debt crisis, the message was clear. European shares edged up from near-seven year lows.

The spread
There are almost 219,000 cases of coronavirus reported globally, and over 8,900 deaths linked to the virus. Over 20,000 cases were reported in the past 24 hours - a record high in daily new cases and over 5,000 more than China reported during the peak of the virus in Wuhan.
One of the open questions in the coronavirus story is why there are relatively few infections and deaths in Germany. That could be because the outbreak there took off later than in France, Italy and Spain. In any case, the past 24 hours saw a big leap upwards in Germany with 2,801 new cases - roughly a third in a single day. The total increased to 10,999 cases while 20 patients died.

The United Kingdom is bracing for the virtual shut down of London as underground train stations across the capital close and Prime Minister Boris Johnson mulls tougher measures to tackle the coronavirus crisis. After finally ordering the closure of schools across a country that casts itself as a pillar of Western stability, Johnson has said the government - initially reluctant to go down the social distancing route - was ruling nothing out when asked whether he would bring in measures to lock down London.

Malaysian authorities are scrambling to track down about 2,000 Rohingya men who attended a Muslim religious gathering that has led to a big spike in coronavirus cases across Southeast Asia. More than 100,000 Rohingya live in Malaysia after fleeing from Myanmar, but they are considered illegal immigrants, which would likely make many of them reluctant to identify themselves to get tested for the coronavirus even if they showed symptoms, other sources in the Rohingya community said.

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Breakingviews: Corona Capital - Bullish financiers, Nio, Airlines
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World

In late January, South Korean health officials summoned representatives from more than 20 medical companies from their lunar New Year celebrations to a conference room tucked inside Seoul’s busy train station. One of the country’s top infectious disease officials delivered an urgent message: South Korea needed an effective test immediately to detect the novel coronavirus, then running rampant in China. Read the Special Report on how Korea trounced the U.S. in the race to test people for coronavirus.

The United States is suspending all routine visa services as of Wednesday in most countries worldwide due to the coronavirus outbreak, a spokeswoman for the State Department said, an unprecedented move that will potentially impact hundreds of thousands of people.

A growing number of African countries are announcing increasingly restrictive measures to try to halt the spread of coronavirus, shutting borders, closing schools and universities and barring large public gatherings. Many on the streets are wondering why but World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says they should “wake up” to the growing threat.

On Sunday morning, Irish chef Cúán Greene woke up to the review of his life. Britain’s Observer newspaper told readers his cooking would make them “thrillingly giddy and euphoric”. Hours later he was out of a job. Greene’s woes are an example of how the coronavirus pandemic is laying waste to hospitality businesses across the board.

Business

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How a Texas oil CEO's luxury land deals cost him his job

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