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4-5 minutes Nations are pouring money into stimulus packages to counter the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has sent economies spinning towards recession.
Global financial markets remain turbulent as a massive slowdown in economic activity as the coronavirus takes hold across Europe and the US.
In the US, shares rebounded almost 6 percent after steep falls on Monday. London's FTSE 100 has also jumped 2.5 percent after being down more than 1 percent earlier on Tuesday. Other major European markets are making similar moves.
Governments have announced fresh financial aid measures to helped bolster growth. The New Zealand government yesterday unveiled a $12.1b package to combat the impact of Covid-19, to take effect immediately.
In the US, President Donald Trump's administration was seeking $US850 billion for a stimulus package, according to a US government official who spoke to Reuters. The package would include $U50 billion for airlines - hard hit by the pandemic - and $250 billion for small business loans.
The administration said it was considering sending checks to Americans so they have cash to spend during the coronavirus crisis.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, appearing with Trump in the White House press briefing room, said he was talking with congressional leaders on a plan to send checks immediately to displaced Americans. Trump said some people should get $1000.
The US government has also increased the amount of tax payments that can be deferred, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Tuesday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday his government would provide financial support to people as he urged them to stay at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Direct support for people who do not qualify for unemployment benefits and money for businesses that keep people on the payroll even if they stay home are among the possible measures, Trudeau said.
Britain's finance minister Rishi Sunak has pledged £330 billion of state-backed loans and other measures to support businesses.
Sunak said that equated to 15 percent of its gross domestic product.
Other measuresincluded a three-month mortgage holiday for people in difficulty and an extension of a suspension of a property tax paid by small companies to all businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors.
Spain announced a massive €200 billion package to help companies and protect workers and other vulnerable groups .
Spain will pay benefits to workers temporarily laid off and suspend mortgage payments for those whose employment has been affected by the outbreak, among other measures.
"These are extraordinary measures, without precedent in our country's democratic history," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a news conference attended remotely by journalists.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said his government would guarantee €300b of loans, and pledged that no French company would be allowed to collapse.
European airlines demanded urgent tax relief to avoid multiple bankruptcies as coronavirus disruption continued its spread across the global industry.
As the region's transport ministers prepared to discuss financial support, the Airlines for Europe group called for widespread tax deferrals "to ensure that as many airlines as possible survive" the crisis.
The call came as the aviation industry's main global body, IATA, said that the total support needed from governments worldwide could reach $US150b to $US200b.
- BBC/Reuters
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4 minutes Covid-19's relentless march across the globe continues, with a desperate call for nations to "test, test, test", the mooting of a 30-day travel ban across Europe, markets plunging further and news testing of a vaccine is to begin.
Overnight confirmed infections have soared around the world, prompting World Health Organisation head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to plead with nations to test more suspected cases.
"We have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response."
In the United States, where President Donald Trump has insisted the situation is under control, the Surgeon General Dr Jerome Adam warned: "When you look at the projections, there's every chance that we could be Italy."
Italy, meanwhile, reported 349 more deaths, taking the number there to more than 2150.
The figures followed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's call for a 30-day ban on all non-essential travel across the EU.
"The less travel, the more we can contain the virus," Ursula von der Leyen said. "We think non-essential travel should be reduced right now in order to not spread the virus further, be it within the EU or by leaving the EU."
Other countries, including Egypt, Malaysia and the Philippines instigated tough new travel rules, in some cases banning internal movement too.
While containment measures remain the focus, a vaccine trial is reportedly beginning in the US today, the Associated Press reported.
The trial, taking place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, will involve 45 young, healthy volunteers who will be given shots of the vaccine.
The report said it was likely to still take a year for it to be fully tested and approved.
Meanwhile, Wall St investors again voted with their feet, trading halted after the Dow plunged nearly 12 percent before recovering some ground. In the UK the FTSE lost another 4 percent, meaning it has fallen 20 percent in a week.
And if things weren't already tough enough, there is a warning in Britain toilet paper substitutes could block essential sewage systems.
Professor Richard Wilding OBE, Professor of supply chain strategy at Cranfield School of Management, said:
"We are seeing shortages of toilet paper but worryingly also shortages of paper kitchen towels ... if kitchen towels, baby wipes or industrial papers are used as a replacement for toilet paper, our sewage systems could readily become blocked with the resulting chaos and increased health risks associated with this."
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A passenger on board the Golden Princess cruise ship berthed at Akaroa, in the South Island, is being tested for Covid-19. Here are the latest coronavirus developments:

In New Zealand

• The sixth case of Covid-19 coronavirus in New Zealand was confirmed by the Waitematā District Health Board yesterday.
• A passenger on board the Golden Princess cruise ship berthed at Akaroa, in the South Island, is being tested for Covid-19. A Canterbury DHB spokesperson says passengers on board the cruise are not being allowed off the ship which arrived this morning.
• All travellers arriving in New Zealand after midnight tonight, including New Zealand citizens, will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
• All cruise ships are also being asked to not come to New Zealand until June 30. It does not apply to cargo ships.
• The tourism industry is in shock and predicting widespread job losses over the government's travel ban announcement.
• The government expects the economy to take a significant hit from tough new border rules, and a relief package is expected this week.
• A number of events have been cancelled, including today's mosque attack national memorial service, Auckland's Pasifika Festival and the Super Rugby.
• The country's Catholic churches are being asked to limit contact during services to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19.
• Wellington Mayor Andy Foster will be meeting the council's emergency committee to discuss what public events will be postponed. The Homegrown music festival is one of the events being looked at.

• If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs)

Around the world

• Spain has confirmed a 15-day lockdown as part of emergency measures.
• France has ordered the closure of all non-essential places used by the public from midnight (local time).
• The US has extended a travel ban to Britain and Ireland to try to contain the pandemic that has shut down much of the daily routine of American life.
• US President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19.
• In the UK, 10 more people have died in the last 24 hours after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 21.
• Germany has reported 733 more cases - the national total now stands at 3,795, with eight deaths. Berlin has banned on all public and private events with more than 50 participants and forced the closure of all bars, cinemas, clubs, gyms, betting halls and brothels. Similar bans are expected in the western city of Cologne on Sunday.
• In China, new cases among people arriving in the country outnumbered those by local transmission for the first time.
• Colombia closed its border with Venezuela and barred any visitors who recently visited Europe or Asia.

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4-5 minutes
As health ministries around the world explain how to deal with coronavirus, myths and misinformation are spreading.
Auckland University microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles told RNZ Afternoons' Jessie Mulligan that people cannot dismiss coronavirus and it needs to be taken seriously.
She said anyone can catch it, it has a higher fatality rate than influenza and has worse affects on vulnerable and older people.
"We know that it has taken Italy, a country with a really good health system, from one case to its knees in three weeks and it's infectious."
But Dr Wiles said people shouldn't panic.
"What I want everyone to do is be prepared because the next year may be really different from anything else we've ever experienced, you know if we have to pull in all the measures that countries like China has in order to combat it if it comes here, then our lives are going to change quite dramatically and we need to be prepared for that."
There are a number of myths and misinformation about coronavirus being spread through people's news feeds and social media.
One of the myths doing the rounds is that drinking water frequently will reduce infection, but Dr Wiles said there is no truth in that.
But something that does work is 'social distancing' or keeping a distance between people to stop the spread of the virus, she said.
That's despite reports on Facebook that 'social distancing' does not work.
Dr Wiles said several studies have just been published showing how successful social distancing is.
"It can take lots of different forms, so one form of social distancing is that we all just start maintaining a little bit further contact from each other, so things like we say goodbye to the hugs and the kisses and the hongi for a little bit and we do what are called elbow bumps, so you bump your elbows instead."
Social distancing also includes major things such as having to cancel big social events, Dr Wiles said.
Masks are fabulous when you have symptoms and you need to reduce the amount of spread of your droplets, Dr Wiles said.
But she warned masks tend not to work for those who have no symptoms and are not used to them.
"What happens with them is that they're much more likely to fiddle with their face and then if you do have virus on your fingers, you're more likely to introduce it."
She said masks can make people less cautious than they should be because they think they are more protected.
Dr Wiles said the virus is not weather dependant and will only disappear when everyone who has been infected has got through the cycle and no more people become infected.
She said a recent paper states that Covid-19 can remain on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to about three days and less than that for other types of surfaces.
It was important to wash your hands after touching anything that has been used by others, such as shopping trolleys, Dr Wiles said.
Dr Wiles said it was worth getting a cover for smartphones because it allows them to be cleaned more easily.

• If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs)

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4 minutesHere’s what you need to know about the coronavirus:
The spread
There are now more than 107,000 coronavirus cases and more than 3,600 deaths across the world, according to a Reuters tally of government announcements.
Italy ordered a virtual lockdown across a swathe of its wealthy north on Sunday, including the financial capital Milan, in a drastic attempt to try to contain the outbreak there.
The death toll in Italy has risen by 133 to 366, the Civil Protection Agency said on Sunday, by far the largest daily rise since the contagion came to light last month.
Britain recorded its largest daily rise in cases. Germany’s health minister called on organizers of large public events to cancel them and urged members of the public to stay at home as cases there topped 900.
Iran, one of the other worst hit countries outside China, said 194 people had died from coronavirus and 6,566 were now infected.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Daegu, the city hardest hit by South Korea’s outbreak expressed cautious hope on Sunday that the numbers of new cases may be dropping, after the rate of increase slowed to its lowest in 10 days.
Argentina recorded Latin America’s first death from the coronavirus. Bangladesh, Maldives, Bulgaria and Moldova reported their first cases.
Another sign of economic damage
The economic bad news continues: a trade report showed China’s exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, and imports slowed, as the health crisis caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.
Keep calm and work from home
The European Central Bank has told most of its over 3500 staff to work from home on Monday to test how it could cope with a shutdown - one of a slew of institutions and companies urging staff to avoid the office and curb travel plans.
Cruise control
U.S. passengers on the cruise ship Grand Princess, which had been barred from docking in California because of suspected cases of the coronavirus on board, will be sent for testing to at least four quarantine centers, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Sunday.
Sports without fans
The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix will go ahead on March 22 but without fans cheering on the drivers, in a first for the sport. The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai scheduled for April 19 has already been postponed.
Britain has called a meeting with its sports authorities and broadcasters on Monday to discuss how other events could be staged without fans present if the outbreak escalates.
What about walking the dog?
Moscow’s healthcare department said it was OK for residents in self-isolation to walk their dog, but only while wearing a face mask and at time when there are the fewest people in the streets. The advice was handed out after authorities threatened prison terms of up to five years for people failing to self-isolate for two weeks after visiting countries hit hard by the outbreak.
For an interactive graphic of the spread, open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
See a selection of curated coronavirus coverage here: here
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7-9 minutes
The number of people infected with coronavirus approached 102,000 across the world as the outbreak reached more countries and caused more economic damage.
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open here)

DEATHS/INFECTIONS

**Globally, there have been just under 102,000 cases and more than 3,480 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
**Mainland China, where the outbreak began, has seen at least 3,070 deaths, but the epidemic is now spreading faster elsewhere.

ASIA

**South Korea’s coronavirus cases jumped above 7,000 on Saturday, up by 448 from the previous day, with more than half of the total number linked to a secretive church.
**About a quarter of China’s new confirmed cases and almost all of those outside the epicenter in Wuhan originated outside the country on Friday, according to official data.
**The first Cambodian has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
**China’s central province of Hubei, excluding its capital Wuhan, reported no new cases over 24 hours for the first time during the outbreak, heath chiefs said on Friday.
**Singapore, praised by the World Health Organization for its efforts to prevent the virus from spreading, warned on Friday that deaths would become “inevitable” as a global pandemic emerges.
**Vietnam on Friday reported its first new coronavirus case in three weeks but the risk of infections spreading remains very high, Hanoi city chairman Nguyen Duc Chung said.
**Japan’s prime minister on Thursday ordered a two-week quarantine for all visitors from China and South Korea, and his government signaled the Olympics would go ahead as planned.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

**An Iranian lawmaker died of the disease on Friday, the most high-profile casualty in a country where the number of infections surged by more than 1,000 in the past 24 hours.
**Fifteen Americans have been quarantined in a hotel in Bethlehem as part of precautions against the coronavirus, a Palestinian government spokesman said on Saturday.
**Cameroon and Togo confirmed their first cases of coronavirus on Friday, bringing the number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa reporting infections to five.

EUROPE

**Malta reported its first case on Saturday - a 12-year-old Italian girl who lives on the island.
**A son of a top medical official in Georgia said on Saturday he had contracted the new coronavirus after being in contact with people who traveled to Italy.
**The number of coronavirus patients in Germany jumped by 45 overnight to stand at 684 on Saturday morning.
**The death toll from the virus in Italy has risen by 49 to 197 on Friday, the largest daily increase in fatalities since the contagion was uncovered two weeks ago.
**On the Spanish island of Tenerife, busloads of guests left a hotel where they had been locked down since Feb. 25.
**Slovakia and Serbia confirmed their first cases on Friday and the Netherlands reported its first death.
**More than 60 staff at an Irish hospital were asked to self-isolate on Friday after the country’s first community transmission was found there.
**Polish police limited drink-driving tests fearing this could speed transmission.

AMERICAS

**Fifteen Americans have been quarantined in a hotel in Bethlehem as part of precautions against the coronavirus, a Palestinian government spokesman said on Saturday.
**The death toll in the United States rose to 14 on Friday after the outbreak surfaced in at least four new states and San Francisco the day before.
**Among the 2,400 passengers stranded off the California coast on a cruise ship carrying at least 21 infected people, few are likely have more to lose than Kari Kolstoe, a retiree from North Dakota with stage-4 cancer.
**Two federal health screeners at Los Angeles International Airport have tested positive for the coronavirus.
**Colombia confirmed its first case of coronavirus on Friday

AUSTRALIA

**Australia ordered its first school closure on Friday after a 16-year-old pupil tested positive, as the country’s prime minister warned the public bill for treating infected patients could top A$1 billion ($661 million).

ECONOMIC FALLOUT

**China’s exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, and imports slowed, as the health crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.
**U.S. officials are wrestling with what to do in the worst-case economic scenarios, if large numbers of people can’t go to work, are told to stay home, or stop going out in public entirely.
**More than 50 staff at Societe Generale’s London office were working from home on Friday, while Bank of America Corp is splitting its trading force and sending 100 New York-based staff to nearby Stamford, Connecticut, from Monday as a precaution against spread of the coronavirus.
**G20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Friday pledged to take “appropriate” fiscal and monetary measures.
**The U.S. telehealth industry, including market leader Teladoc Health Inc, is preparing for a surge in demand.
**The Asian Development Bank said the outbreak could slash global economic output by 0.1-0.4%, with financial losses forecast to reach between $77 billion and $347 billion.
**Malaysia’s Malindo Air has ordered its staff to take up to a 50% pay cut and two weeks unpaid leave as the coronavirus epidemic hurts air travel demand and the broader industry.
**The outbreak likely halved China’s economic growth in the current quarter compared with the previous three months, a Reuters poll found.
**The cost of insuring exposure to sovereign as well as corporate debt rose almost across the board on Friday as the spread of coronavirus raised the prospect of debt distress and government bailouts.
**Global recession risks have risen due to coronavirus, credit rating agency Moody’s said on Friday.

MARKETS

**Bargain-hunting investors are eyeing the shares of airlines, hotels, cruise lines and other companies that have been among the worst-hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
**Yields on U.S. Treasuries plunged to historic lows on Friday as fear the coronavirus outbreak will slam the global economy drove investors to snap up risk-adverse assets and dump equities, overshadowing data highlighting a strong U.S. labor market.

EVENT CANCELED AND POSTPONED

**The South by Southwest music, technology and film festival in Austin, Texas, scheduled for March 13 to 22, was canceled on Friday.
**The World Economic Forum has postponed a Latin America conference set to be held in Brazil at the end of April as a precautionary measure.
**The oil and gas industry is cancelling key networking events and academic and technical meetings, shifting some to virtual conferences.
**The Barcelona marathon scheduled for March 15 has been postponed until October.
**The Alpine skiing World Cup finals in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, scheduled for March 18-22, have been canceled.
**More luxury brands have postponed fashion shows worldwide.
**Russia has canceled its flagship annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum this year.
**Formula E postponed Rome’s ePrix race expected on April 4.
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Lawrence White
Twenty-one people aboard a cruise ship that was barred from docking in San Francisco have tested positive for coronavirus, U.S. officials said on Friday, adding to the more than 100,000 cases of the fast-spreading illness across the world.
Vice President Mike Pence, recently appointed as the U.S. government’s point man on the outbreak, said the cruise ship Grand Princess will be brought to an unspecified non-commercial port where all 2,400 some passengers and 1,100 crew members will now be tested.
“Those that need to be quarantined, will be quarantined. Those that require additional medical attention will receive it,” Pence told reporters at the White House.
The outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people and spread across more than 90 nations, with seven countries reporting their first cases on Friday. The economic damage has also intensified, with business districts starting to empty and stock markets continuing to tumble.
President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bill to provide $8.3 billion to bolster the capacity to test for coronavirus and fund other measures in the United States. Cases have now been reported in more than half of the 50 U.S. states. Fifteen people have died in the country.
In many affected countries, people were being asked to stay home from work, schools were closed, large gatherings and sports and music events were canceled, stores were cleared of staples like toiletries and water, and face masks became a common sight.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said every country should make containing the epidemic its top priority, pointing to Iran’s national action plan to combat one of the worst outbreaks after a slow start.
Iran’s death toll from the virus jumped to 124, as more than 1,000 new cases were diagnosed over 24 hours.
The Vatican reported its first case, a patient in its health services, worsening the prospects of the virus having already spread further in the Italian capital, since most employees in the walled city-state live in Rome, and those who live in the Vatican frequently go in and out to the city that surrounds it.
Italy is the worst-hit European country, with a death toll as of Friday of 197.
South Korea on Saturday reported 174 additional cases from late Friday, taking the national tally to 6,767. Mainland China, where the outbreak started, reported 99 new confirmed cases but about a quarter of them came from outside the country, data showed.
About 3.4% of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have died, far above seasonal flu’s fatality rate of under 1%, the WHO said this week.

SUPPLY CHAINS BROKEN

Moves by some major economies, including the United States, to cut interest rates and pledge funds to fight the epidemic have done little to allay fears about the spread of the disease and the economic fallout. Supply chains have been crippled around the world.
“There’s concern that while there has been a response from the Fed, given the nature of the problem, is this something the central bank can really help with?” said John Davies, G10 rates strategist at Standard Chartered Bank in London.
In New York, JPMorgan (JPM.N) divided its team between central locations and a secondary site in New Jersey, while Goldman Sachs (GS.N) sent some traders to nearby secondary offices in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Jersey City.
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is splitting its trading force from Monday and sending 100 New York-based staff to nearby Stamford, Connecticut, sources familiar with the matter said.
In London, Europe’s financial capital, the Canary Wharf district was unusually quiet. S&P Global’s large office stood empty after the company sent its 1,200 staff home, and HSBC asked around 100 people to work from home after a worker tested positive for the illness.
France’s prime minister said nurseries and schools would close for 15 days from Monday in the two areas worst hit by coronavirus infections, one north of Paris and the other in the northeastern part of the country.
The South by Southwest music and tech festival in Austin, Texas, and two music festivals in Florida were canceled over concerns about events that bring crowds of people into close proximity. The NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament was scheduled to go ahead at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore this weekend, but without spectators.
Saudi Arabia will suspend public attendance at all sports events starting Saturday, the ministry of sports said.
The United Nations said it had canceled some meetings in Bonn, Germany, and elsewhere planned in the run-up to a crucial U.N. climate summit to be held in Scotland in November.

MARKETS HIT

Yields on U.S. Treasuries plunged to historic lows on fears the outbreak will slam the global economy, and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 3.10%. [MKTS/GLOB]U.S. stocks fell but ended well above their session lows. [.N]
Airline and travel stocks have been among the worst affected as people canceled non-essential travel. Norwegian Air Shuttle (NWC.OL), the hardest-hit stock among European carriers, lost more than quarter of its market value on Friday and has fallen almost 70% since the start of February.
“If this really ramps up, we could see a lot more kitchen-sinking updates from the travel industry and airlines,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
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Stephanie Nebehay
About 3.4% of confirmed cases of COVID-19 have died, far above seasonal flu’s fatality rate of under 1%, but the novel coronavirus can be contained, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, urged countries to prepare for patients with the virus turning up in their hospitals and ensure that health workers are protected.
But the world’s supplies of protective gear - masks, gloves and goggles - need to be increased by an estimated 40%, he said, adding: “We continue to call on manufacturers to urgently increase production to meet this demand and guarantee supplies.”
Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases had died, while seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected, Tedros said.
“To summarize, COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained,” he said.
Imposing travel restrictions and screening travelers should be part of the strategy, but are not enough, said Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme.
“Countries that have relied purely on travel restrictions as the only public health intervention have not done so well, because when they have imported cases they subsequently have been caught off guard,” he said.
Authorities should focus on containment measures “but also be ready for community transmission and be able to mitigate”.
“This is one of the dangers in using the ‘pandemic’ word - is that even if you are moving in that direction in terms of a description, you would want containment to continue. You would want to see mitigation under way,” Ryan added.
Tedros said that he had spoken with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, due to begin in July.
“What we have agreed is that we monitor the situation and then of course with the government of Japan if there is a need for any actions then we can discuss with the Japanese government.
“I think deciding now could be too early, it would be good to monitor the situation,” Tedros said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the IOC urged athletes to prepare “full steam” despite the coronavirus threat.
Asked about the growing outbreak in Iran, Ryan said authorities faced issues with supplies, protective gear and “the intensive care management of very severely ill patients”. A WHO team arrived in the country on Monday.
Referring to ventilators, respirators, and oxygen, he said: “Those needs are more acute for the Iranian health system than they are for most any other health system.”
“We clearly need to see an acceleration of activities,” he added. “While the numbers going up may on the face of it appear to be a very bad thing, we saw the same thing happen in (South) Korea. Things tend to look worse before they get better.”
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