Wednesday, May 6: Coronavirus global update

Wednesday, 10.19: More than 3,729,214 people have been infected across the world and over 258,394have died but at the same time 1,245,328 people have recovered.

All the latest news in brief as it happens

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 947 to 164,807, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.

The reported death toll rose by 165 to 6,996, the tally showed.

Shares struggled and the yen gained on Wednesday, with markets in China faltering on their return from a long holiday as investors fretted over Sino-U.S. tensions, while oil ended an extended winning streak on oversupply risks amid weak demand.

Wall Street futures turned negative after starting higher, with E-minis for the S&P500 off 0.3%.

China, opening for the first time since Thursday, started on the backfoot with the blue-chip index down 0.6%. Australian shares skidded 0.8%.

“There is a distinct risk-off tone to greet China coming back from holiday,” said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp.

Walt Disney Co estimated on Tuesday that global measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic cut profits by $1.4 billion, mostly from its shuttered theme parks, but said it would reopen Shanghai Disneyland to a reduced number of visitors next week.

It is unclear when Disney’s other parks in Asia, the United States and France would again welcome visitors, executives said, or when the company’s range of idled businesses including retail stores and cruise ships would return.

China reported 2 new coronavirus cases for May 5 and 20 new asymptomatic cases, data from the national health authority showed on Wednesday.

This compared with 1 new coronavirus case and 15 new asymptomatic cases reported a day earlier. The two new cases were so-called imported cases involving travellers from overseas, compared with one such case a day earlier.

China’s total number of coronavirus cases now stands at 82,883, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,633, the National Health Commission said in a statement.

Mexico registered 1,120 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday and 236 new deaths, a health official said, bringing the total in the country to 26,025 known cases and 2,507 deaths. However, Mexico has conducted a very low number of tests. The government said on Sunday that the real number of cases was above 104,000, according to a statistical model.

• France reported more than 300 coronavirus-linked deaths for the second day running on Tuesday.
• WHO said on Tuesday that a report that COVID-19 had emerged in December in France was “not surprising”, and urged countries to investigate early.
• The United Kingdom has overtaken Italy to report the highest official COVID-19 death toll in Europe at 32,313, figures released on Tuesday showed.
• Irish government spending was 13.5% above its pre-coronavirus target at the end of April as a rise in health and unemployment costs created a wide budget deficit, even before a shutdown of the economy is fully reflected in tax revenue.
• The United States and Britain launched trade negotiations by video-conference, as both struggle with the effects of the pandemic and aim to shore up domestic supply chains.
• The European Aquatics Championships, which were scheduled to be held from May 11 to 24 in Budapest, have been pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European governing body for aquatic sports (LEN) said on Tuesday.
• Spain reported its third day in a row of under 200 deaths, but a record number of people claiming social security benefits for April.
• Austria’s first lockdown loosening three weeks ago has not led to a new spike in infections, though further vigilance is necessary, its health minister said.

• U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus surged past 70,000 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, as a key forecasting model nearly doubled its previous estimate for fatalities.
• Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday will try to pass legislation imposing disclosure requirements on federal coronavirus assistance to businesses.
• Government-backed hackers are attacking healthcare and research institutions in an effort to steal valuable information about efforts to contain the new coronavirus outbreak, Britain and the United States said on Tuesday in a joint warning.
• The White House plans to wind down its coronavirus task force in coming weeks, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
• Canada will invest C$252 million ($179.5 million) to help farmers and food processors weather the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday, but industry groups say the funding falls far short of what is needed.
• Peru’s President Martin Vizcarra confirmed on Tuesday that confirmed cases of the new coronavirus have now exceeded 50,000.
• Some 40 Cuban sugar mills remain open out of season despite a partial lockdown of the country, in a last-ditch effort to add foreign exchange to the government’s all-but-empty coffers.
• Indigenous leaders in Brazil have asked the WHO to set up an emergency fund to help protect their communities.

• Coronavirus cases in Asia rose to a quarter of a million on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, driven by outbreaks in Singapore, Pakistan and India, even as China, South Korea and Japan significantly slowed the spread of the disease.
• Hong Kong said it will relax restrictions on public gatherings and allow gyms, cinemas and beauty parlours to re-open this week as new cases dwindle
• One of Bangladesh largest drugmakers, Beximco Pharmaceuticals will begin producing experimental antiviral drug remdesivir, a senior executive said.
• Indonesia reported on Tuesday its biggest daily rise in infections with 484 new cases, taking the total to 12,071.
• Thailand may see the economic impact from the pandemic stretch over another nine months, its prime minister said.

• Turkey’s COVID-19 death toll has risen by 59 in the last 24 hours to 3,520, Health Ministry data showed on Tuesday.
• Tunisian banks have lent the government 1.2 billion dinars (around $410 million) in foreign currency to tackle the coronavirus crisis, the Finance Ministry said.
• Afghanistan’s government began distributing free bread to hundreds of thousands of people across the country this week as supplies have been disrupted during the coronavirus shutdown and prices have soared.
• A parliamentary panel authorised Israel’s Shin Bet security service to continue using mobile phone data to track infected people until May 26.
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas extended to June 5 a state of emergency declared in areas under his administration in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

• The U.S. trade deficit increased by the most in more than a year in March as a record drop in exports offset a shrinking import bill, suggesting the novel coronavirus outbreak was upending the global flow of goods and services.
• Stock markets snapped a three-day losing streak on Tuesday and oil was on its longest run of gains in nine months as moves to ease major economies out of their coronavirus lockdowns lifted sentiment.

• Banks in the European Union could end up paying annual contributions to an industry rescue funds by tapping government support for coronavirus-hit companies, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
• South Africa’s tax revenue losses due to the coronavirus and credit ratings downgrades could reach $15.5 billion this fiscal year, the commissioner of the revenue services said.
• Egypt’s budget deficit for the financial year that will begin in July will widen to 7.8% of gross domestic product if the crisis continues until the end of December, the finance minister said.
• The International Coffee Organization sees lockdowns flipping the global coffee market into a 1.95 million 60kg bag surplus in 2019/20 from previously forecast 474,000 bag deficit.