(Bloomberg) — Singapore raised its alert level over the new coronavirus outbreak to the same degree as during the SARS epidemic, while cases in China climbed to more than 31,000.
The number of cases found on a quarantined cruise ship in Japan tripled to 61, making the vessel the biggest center of infections outside China. The economic impact of the outbreak is being felt widely. Burberry Group Plc abandoned its financial guidance for the year and Toyota Motor Corp. extended the shutdown of its plants in China for at least another week.
Key Developments
China death toll at 636; confirmed cases at 31,161What You Need to Know About the Spreading Coronavirus: QuickTakeMan vs. Microbe: We’re Not Ready for Next Global Virus OutbreakTerminal subscribers: Replay the TOPLive Q&A on risks to the economy
Bloomberg is tracking the outbreak on the terminal and online.
China’s Refiners Process 15% Less Crude (6:02 p.m. HK)
Oil refineries across China have cut the amount of crude they’re turning into fuels by around 15%, and could deepen those reductions in the coming weeks. State-owned and private plants have pared back refining by at least 2 million barrels a day over the last week, said people with knowledge of operations at the nation’s largest complexes.
Thai Minister Sorry For Threatening Tourists Without Masks (6 p.m. HK)
Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul apologized after saying that foreigners should be “kicked out of Thailand” for refusing to wear face masks. Tourism comprises about one fifth of the Thai economy, and has faced a slowdown after the novel coronavirus prompted an 80% drop in Chinese visitors, the largest market.
Hong Kong Airport to Segregate China Flights: SCMP (5:52 p.m. HK)
Planes coming from and going to mainland China will depart and arrive at remote parking stands as Hong Kong’s airport adopts stricter quarantine measures to contain the outbreak, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified people.
Two Citizen Journalists Covering Virus Go Missing in China (5:36 p.m. HK)
Chinese citizen journalists Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, who have served as the world’s eyes and ears in the city of Wuhan, are missing.
Fang hasn’t posted any videos since Thursday. He was previously detained briefly by authorities for his video of corpses in a hospital. When he filmed the dramatic moment people in hazmat suits broke down his apartment door to take him into quarantine, it sparked hundreds of comments urging the authorities to release him. Chen has also been out of reach for more than 20 hours.
China Urges Employees, Clients to Scour World for Masks (5:35 p.m. HK)
As the virus triggers shortages of medical supplies in China, businesses are urging employees and their clients to bring back face masks from overseas. Meanwhile, alcohol and ethanol makers including Tsingtao Brewery Co. are shifting to produce disinfectant to help ease a shortage in medical grade alcohol, with an industry association urging others to follow suit.
Singapore Raises Alert Level (5:27 p.m. HK)
Singapore raised its national disease response level to Orange, its second-highest level and the same one used during the SARS epidemic, the Ministry of Health said.
The Orange designation means the nature of disease “is severe and spreads easily from person to person,” but “has not spread widely in Singapore and is being contained,” according to the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition color-coded framework.
Singapore Examining Residents in Event-Linked Cases (3:17 p.m. HK)
Singapore is investigating four residents who last month went to the Grand Hyatt hotel for a private business meeting that’s been linked to several overseas cases of coronavirus.
One of two new cases of the virus is a 27 year-old male Singaporean citizen with no recent travel history to China, according to the Ministry of Health on Thursday evening. He is one of the four people included in the probe at the National Center for Infectious Diseases after he attended the meeting at the hotel from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22.
Burberry Abandons Forecast as Virus Hits China Sales (3:01 p.m. HK)
Burberry Group Plc scrapped its financial guidance for the year, warning that the coronavirus epidemic has wiped out three-quarters or more of sales at stores in China. The British fashion house said it has closed 24 of its 64 shops on the mainland. Over the past two weeks, sales at mainland stores that remain open have declined 70% to 80%, Chief Financial Officer Julie Brown said.
It’s one of the most dramatic illustrations so far of the effects of the virus on global brands, with the luxury-goods industry particularly exposed. Cosmetics companies L’Oreal SA and Estee Lauder Cos. said Thursday that they expect temporary setbacks in China.
Toyota, Honda Extend China Shutdowns (1:27 p.m. HK)
Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. were among carmakers extending shutdowns at their China plants as the country steps up measures to fight the deadly coronavirus.
Toyota, which initially halted its Chinese plants until Feb. 9, said it now plans to resume production as soon as Feb. 17. Honda said it will reopen its factory on Feb. 14 with an eye toward restarting output during the week of Feb. 17.
Trump Reassures Xi on Virus in Phone Call (12:19 p.m. HK)
U.S. President Donald Trump offered reassurance to China President Xi Jingping when the two leaders spoke on Thursday about the coronavirus outbreak, the White House said.
Trump “expressed confidence in China’s strength and resilience in confronting the challenge,” according to a White House account of their telephone conversation. It added that they agreed to continue “extensive communication and cooperation on both sides.”
Trump and Xi also discussed the new U.S.-China trade accord and “reaffirmed their commitment to its implementation, the White House added.
Australia to Quarantine Evacuees in Outback Camp (12:06 p.m. HK)
Australia said it’s preparing a former resources industry workers’ camp in the Outback to quarantine evacuees from coronavirus-stricken Wuhan.
Australia has quarantined the first wave of citizens returning from Wuhan at the Christmas Island asylum-seeker detention center, about 1,200 miles from the mainland.
China Travel Bans Leave Thousands Stranded (9:47 a.m. HK)
China’s coronavirus outbreak has triggered an unprecedented clampdown on travel to and from the world’s second-largest economy, leaving thousands stranded across the globe and dealing a major blow to the international aviation industry.
At least 14 countries and territories, from the U.S. to India and Hong Kong, have introduced some form of China-related travel restrictions. Airlines suspended 26% of scheduled services in and out of the country from Jan. 23 to Feb. 3, according to Cirium, an air-travel analysis firm.
Read the full story here.
Japan Finds 41 More Cases on Cruise Ship (9:12 a.m. HK)
Japan’s Health Ministry found an additional 41 cases of the novel coronavirus on a cruise ship quarantined off Yokohama, a sharp increase from the 20 cases previously discloses.
U.S. equity futures dipped alongside Treasury yields and the yen ticked higher as traders reacted to the jump in cases.
Of the 273 on the cruise ship tested, a total of 61 have tested positive, with one patient in serious condition. Japan is looking to expand its testing for infections among the some 3,700 passengers and crew, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters Friday.
The Diamond Princess was placed under quarantine this week before it reached Japan, and checks were conducted after a passenger from Hong Kong who had been on the ship tested positive for the virus.
More than 7,000 passengers and crew have been held in quarantine in Hong Kong and Japan as their cruises turned into confinement because of the coronavirus.
Virus Pushes Robots to the Frontlines (8:51 a.m. HK)
The coronavirus outbreak, which has pushed the Chinese medical community into overdrive, has also prompted the country’s hospitals to more quickly adopt robots as medical assistants.
Telepresence bots that allow remote video communication, patient health monitoring and safe delivery of medical goods are growing in number on hospital floors in urban China. They’re now acting as a go-between that helps curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Read the full story here.
Hubei Facing Hospital Staffing Shortage (8:28 a.m. HK)
Hubei, the province under siege from the epidemic, is struggling to keep up with more than 22,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. Hubei is still facing a shortage of about 2,250 doctors and nurses, the vice governor of Hubei, Yang Yunyan, was cited as saying in the official Hubei Daily on Thursday. That comes even as the central government had sent in 10,596 medical professionals to help fight the epidemic as of Feb. 5. Yang said retired doctors and nurses should be encouraged to return to work.
China’s Death Toll Climbs to 636 (8:11 a.m. HK)
China’s death toll from the coronavirus rose to 636 as of Feb. 6, according to the National Health Commission. The number of confirmed cases on the mainland climbed by more than 3,000 to 31,161.
Hubei province, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, reported 69 additional deaths. Hubei accounts for 618 of the fatalities in China. Total confirmed cases in Hubei are at 22,112.
Outside of mainland China, Hong Kong has reported one death, while the Philippines had a fatality last week.
Wynn Resorts Losing $2.5 Million a Day in Macau (7:11 a.m. HK)
Wynn Resorts Ltd. is losing about $2.5 million a day in Macau after the Chinese government ordered casinos there closed to deter the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The company employs about 12,200 people in the region. Although the casinos were ordered closed for a 15-day period that started Feb. 5, Wynn Chief Executive Officer Matt Maddox said Thursday it was too early to predict when they would reopen.
Chinese Doctor Has Died, Hospital Says (3 p.m. NY)
Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who was one of the first to warn about the coronavirus in Wuhan, has died, according to the hospital where he worked.
The doctor’s status had been subject to hours of confusion after earlier reports of his death on Chinese social media were deleted and replaced by messages saying he was being treated.
“Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at our hospital had unfortunately been infected when he worked on fighting against the coronavirus outbreak,” Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on the Chinese social platform Weibo.
The hospital said he died at 2:58 a.m. in China “after all efforts to save him failed.”
Li was in his 30s, according to a report by the Chinese media outlet Caixin.
(An earlier version was corrected to fix time stamp in Singapore alert item)
–With assistance from Christopher Palmeri, Charlie Zhu, Kari Lindberg, Will Davies, K. Oanh Ha, Iain Marlow, Yoshiaki Nohara, John Harney, Eric Pfanner, Derek Wallbank, Philip J. Heijmans and Melissa Cheok.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in Minneapolis at mcortez@bloomberg.net;Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Adveith Nair
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