Archive for ‘coronavirus’

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29/03/2020

China guards against second wave of coronavirus coming from abroad

WUHAN, China (Reuters) – The growing number of imported coronavirus cases in China risked fanning a second wave of infections at a time when “domestic transmission has basically been stopped”, a spokesman for the National Health Commission said on Sunday.

“China already has an accumulated total of 693 cases entering from overseas, which means the possibility of a new round of infections remains relatively big,” Mi Feng, the spokesman, said.

In the last seven days, China has reported 313 imported cases of coronavirus but only 6 confirmed cases of domestic transmission, the commission’s data showed.

There were 45 new coronavirus cases reported in the mainland for Saturday, down from 54 on the previous day, with all but one involving travelers from overseas.

RELATED COVERAGE

  • China says imported virus cases raise risk of new infection wave

Most of those imported cases have involved Chinese returning home from abroad.

Airlines have been ordered to sharply cut international flights from Sunday. And restrictions on foreigners entering the country went into effect on Saturday.

Five more people died on Saturday, all of them in Wuhan, the industrial central city where the epidemic began in December. But Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has reported only one new case on the last 10 days.

A total of 3,300 people have now died in mainland China, with a reported 81,439 infections.

Saturday marked the fourth consecutive day that Hubei province recorded no new confirmed cases. The sole case of domestically transmitted coronavirus was recorded in Henan province, bordering Hubei.

With traffic restrictions in the province lifted, Wuhan is also gradually reopening borders and restarting some local transportation services.

“It’s much better now, there was so much panic back then. There weren’t any people on the street. Nothing. How scary the epidemic situation was,” a man, who gave his surname as Hu, told Reuters as he ventured out to buy groceries in Wuhan.

“Now, it is under control. Now, it’s great, right?”

All airports in Hubei resumed some domestic flights on Sunday, with the exception of Wuhan’s Tianhe airport, which will open to domestic flights on April 8. Flights from Hubei to Beijing remain suspended.

A train arrived in Wuhan on Saturday for the first time since the city was placed in lockdown two months ago. Greeting the train, Hubei Communist Party Secretary Ying Yong described Wuhan as “a city full of hope” and said the heroism and hard work of its people had “basically cut off transmission” of the virus.

More than 60,000 people entered Wuhan on Saturday after rail services were officially restarted, with more than 260 trains arriving or travelling through, the People’s Daily reported on Sunday.

On Sunday, streets and metro trains were still largely empty amid a cold rainy day. Flashing signs on the Wuhan Metro, which resumed operations on Saturday, said its cars would keep passenger capacity at less than 30%.

The Hubei government on Sunday said on its official WeChat account that a number of malls in Wuhan, as well as the Chu River and Han Street shopping belt, will be allowed to resume operations on March 30.

Concerns have been raised that a large number of undiagnosed asymptomatic patients could return to circulation once transport restrictions are eased.

China’s top medical adviser, Zhong Nanshan, played down that risk in comments to state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday. Zhong said asymptomatic patients were usually found by tracing the contacts of confirmed cases, which had so far shown no sign of rebounding.

With the world’s second-biggest economy expected to shrink for the first time in four decades this quarter, China is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus.

The ruling Communist Party’s Politburo called on Friday for a bigger budget deficit, the issuance of more local and national bonds, and steps to guide interest rates lower, delay loan repayments, reduce supply-chain bottlenecks and boost consumption.

Source: Reuters

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28/03/2020

Coronavirus: Chinese cinemas told to close just a week after reopening

  • China Film Administration issues notice on Thursday as government seeks to prevent a new wave of Covid-19 cases, after locally transmitted infection is reported in Zhejiang
  • Cinemas in some parts of the country did reopen on March 20, but film-goers’ joy was short-lived
Beijing said it was working on a support package for the cinema industry, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Weibo
Beijing said it was working on a support package for the cinema industry, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Weibo
Just a week after being given the green light to reopen, cinemas across China have been ordered to close once more as the government seeks to strike a balance between rebooting the economy and preventing a second wave of Covid-19 cases.
The notice was issued by the China Film Administration on Thursday, according to a report the same day by local news outlet Caixin.com. It was not otherwise made public.

While cinemas in some parts of the country have been back in business since March 20, those in major cities remained closed. The 24 million or so people who live in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai had been looking forward to their screens reopening on Friday.

Cinema managers were quoted by Caixin as saying that the closure notice might have been prompted by a locally transmitted case of Covid-10 that was reported on Thursday in Zhejiang province, which neighbours Shanghai.

The infection was one of 55 reported across China that day, but the only one that was not imported, the report said.

China’s cinema industry has been among the worst hit by the health crisis. Earlier on Thursday, the National Development and Reform Commission said it had spoken to industry executives and relevant organisations, and had drawn up proposals for a support package.
Source: SCMP

Posted in Chinese cinemas, close, coronavirus, COVID-19, Covid-19 pandemic, National Development and Reform Commission, reopening, Uncategorized, week | Leave a Comment »

28/03/2020

China readies stimulus measures as local virus cases dwindle

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s authorities plan stronger steps to revive an economy hit by the spread of coronavirus, as the nation on Saturday reported no new locally transmitted infections for the previous day.

The ruling Communist Party’s Politburo said on Friday it would step up macroeconomic policy adjustments and pursue more proactive fiscal policy, state media reported. With the world’s second-biggest economy expected to shrink for the first time in four decades this quarter, China is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus.

The Politburo called for expanding the budget deficit, issuing more local and national bonds, guiding interest rates lower, delaying loan repayments, reducing supply-chain bottlenecks and boosting consumption.

“We expect government ministries to roll out more tangible measures in the coming weeks as this Politburo meeting gave them no choice but to do more,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.

The Politburo did not elaborate on plans for the central government to issue special treasury bonds, which would be the first such issuance since 2007.

Restrictions on foreigners entering the country went into effect on Saturday, as China reported no new locally transmitted infections and a small drop in so-called imported cases.

Airlines have been ordered to sharply cut international flights from Sunday.

Beijing has in recent days emphasised the risk posed by imported virus cases after widespread lockdowns within China helped to sharply reduce domestic transmissions. The Politburo said it would shift its focus to prevent more imported cases and a rebound in locally transmitted infections.

“We must be extremely vigilant and cautious, and we must prevent the post-epidemic relaxation from coming too soon, leading to the loss of all our achievements,” the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper said in a front-page editorial.

The authorities also reversed planned reopenings of movie theatres, the state-owned China Securities Journal reported, citing sources.

DEATH TOLL AT 3,295

China’s National Health Commission said on Saturday that 54 new coronavirus cases were reported on the mainland on Friday, all imported cases. There were 55 new cases a day earlier, one of which was transmitted locally.

The number of infections for mainland China stands at 81,394, with the death toll rising by three to 3,295, the commission said.

Hubei province reported no new cases, and three new deaths. The province of 60 million, where the virus was first detected, has recorded 67,801 coronavirus cases and 3,177 deaths.

Shanghai reported the highest number of new cases, with 17. An additional 11 cases were reported in Guangdong, six in Fujian, five in Tianjin, four in Zhejiang, three each in Beijing and Liaoning, two each in Inner Mongolia and Jilin, and one in Shandong.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday that China would support U.S. efforts to fight the coronavirus.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States rose by at least 16,000 on Friday to nearly 102,000, the most of any country.

George Gao, the director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, urged people to wear masks to control the virus’s spread overseas.

Gao told the journal Science in an interview published late on Friday that the “big mistake in the United States and Europe has been the failure to wear masks, which “can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.”

Source: Reuters

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28/03/2020

The uncertain future for China’s electric car makers

Han Zhu at the Tesla dealershipImage copyright HAN ZHU
Image caption Choosing an electric car was an easy decision for Shenzhen resident Han Zhu

Han Zhu is on a mission to go green. The 29-year-old data analyst wants her next car to be electric. But her reasons for buying an electric vehicle are in part practical.

In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, government restrictions on the number of petrol cars sold each year mean she would have to enter a lottery or auction to be able to buy a petrol vehicle.

“There is a possibility you may never get it. With the electric vehicle green licence, you don’t have to wait in line,” she says.

Shenzhen has become the showpiece capital for the Chinese electric dream. In 2017 it became the first city in the world to introduce a fleet of electric buses. A year later, the government rolled out a plan to replace city taxis with electric cars.

“In Shenzhen, in almost every residential building there are two charging units. One out of 10 cars on the street are Teslas,” she says. “In China if the policy leads in one direction, technology and money goes in that direction too,” she says.

This photo taken on January 14, 2019 shows a man plugging in an electric vehicle at a Sinopec service station in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption China has the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles

In less than a decade China’s new electric vehicle market has become the largest in the world. In 2018 more than a million electric vehicles were sold in China, more than three times the number sold in the US.

Beijing invested an estimated $50bn (£43bn) in the industry, hoping that today’s dominance of the electric vehicle market would lead to global automobile supremacy tomorrow.

And thus far the policy has been working. Over the last three years the number of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers has tripled, with more than 400 registered nationwide.

But that breakneck expansion alarmed the government. Last year it decided to put the brakes on by withdrawing approximately half of its financial incentives for buyers.

A slump in sales quickly followed, in the last quarter of 2019 sales for electric vehicles plummeted.

Now the coronavirus has supplied a second punch.

Manufacturers have been forced to halt production lines and close dealerships in a bid to stop the spread of virus.

Overall auto sales in plunged 79% in February compared with the same month in 2019, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) fell for the eighth month in a row.

“China’s auto market was already reeling from a large drop in demand in 2019. In 2020 no carmaker has been immune to the effects of the coronavirus. That includes everyone from the oldest joint ventures producing internal combustion engine SUVs to the most innovative upstarts making connected electric vehicles,” says Scott Kennedy from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The vast majority [of electric car makers] will not survive. But how long they survive and whether industry consolidation occurs through lots of mergers or bankruptcies will depend on the willingness of the government.”

The NIO EP9Image copyright NIO
Image caption The NIO EP9 is one of the fastest electric cars in the world

After listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018 and raising billions of dollars, NIO is perhaps the highest-profile Chinese maker of electric cars.

But in the five years since it was founded it has been beset by problems and has burned through hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2019 the company cut 2,000 jobs on the back of falling revenues. In February it announced it had signed a tentative agreement with a local government that has pledged to fund the company.

“China is a huge market growing at an immense pace. We will adjust and adapt to the market condition,” said an NIO spokesperson.

And it’s not just the car makers. China has some giant makers of components, such as batteries.

In 2018 CATL, a Chinese electric battery maker, became the official supplier of BMW’s electric cars.

Last month Tesla announced it would enter into an agreement with the company to supply batteries for Tesla’s newly built Shanghai mega-plant, capable of producing 500,000 vehicles a year.

Robotic arms spray paint a car body shell at the BYD Automobile Company Limited Xi'an plant on December 25, 2019 in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province of China.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption China’s BYD is the one of the world’s biggest makers of electric vehicles

But despite that apparent success, analysts have their doubts.

“Chinese auto and battery technology is still not world-class. CATL and BYD are strong battery makers, but they are still somewhat behind technologically from their South Korean and Japanese counterparts. And Chinese automakers are still second-class producers even in their own country and they have barely any sales outside China,” says Mr Kennedy.

For car buyers, that question of quality hangs over China’s electric car makers.

Yi Zhi Yong, a middle-aged entrepreneur, drives a hybrid car made by Chinese manufacturer BYD. Backed by US billionaire Warren Buffett, the company was the third-largest battery-only electric car producer in the world in 2019, according to research by EV-volumes.com. Tesla sold the most, followed by another Chinese firm, BAIC.

He didn’t buy a pure electric vehicle because he is not confident about the quality.

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“The quality of domestic pure electric vehicles is not good at the moment,” he says. “No domestic pure electric vehicle is worth buying yet.”

But he feels the progress made by China is a source of national pride. “In the 1990s we couldn’t imagine that China could build cars that can compete with the Japanese,” he says.

Back in Shenzhen, Han Zhu says the rolling back of government subsidies won’t put her off buying an electric vehicle. But rather than buying a Chinese marque, she has her eye on a Tesla.

“I think that they are totally different. I was super excited about Tesla but not other electric cars,” she says.

Source: The BBC

Posted in Auction, automobile supremacy, BAIC, Beijing, biggest market, BMW's electric cars, BYD, Center for Strategic and International Studies, China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's, city taxis, coronavirus, data analyst, electric battery maker, electric buses, Electric car, electric vehicles, global, Green, Japanese, lottery, Makers, mission, New York Stock Exchange, petrol cars, petrol vehicle, resident, Shanghai mega-plant, Shenzhen, South Korean, Technology, Teslas, tomorrow, Uncategorized, uncertain future, Warren Buffett | Leave a Comment »

27/03/2020

Coronavirus: India ‘super spreader’ quarantines 40,000 people

Punjab has 30 confirmed cases of the virusImage copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption Punjab has 30 confirmed cases of the virus

Indian authorities in the northern state of Punjab have quarantined around 40,000 residents from 20 villages following a Covid-19 outbreak linked to just one man.

The 70-year-old died of coronavirus – a fact found out only after his death.

The man, a preacher, had ignored advice to self quarantine after returning from a trip to Italy and Germany, officials told BBC Punjabi’s Arvind Chhabra.

India has 640 confirmed cases of the virus, of which 30 are in Punjab.

However, experts worry that the real number of positive cases could be far higher. India has one of the lowest testing rates in the world, although efforts are under way to ramp up capacity.

There are fears that an outbreak in the country of 1.3 billion people could result in a catastrophe.

The man, identified as Baldev Singh, had visited a large gathering to celebrate the Sikh festival of Hola Mohalla shortly before he died.

The six-day festival attracts around 10,000 people every day.

A week after his death, 19 of his relatives have tested positive.

“So far, we have been able to trace 550 people who came into direct contact with him and the number is growing. We have sealed 15 villages around the area he stayed,” a senior official told the BBC.

Another five villages in an adjoining district have also been sealed.

This is not the first time that exposure has resulted in mass quarantining in India.

In Bhilwara, a textile city in the northern state of Rajasthan, there are fears that a group of doctors who were infected by a patient could have spread the disease to hundreds of people.

Seven thousand people in villages neighbouring the city are under home quarantine.

India has also declared a 21-day lockdown, although people are free to go out to buy essential items like food and medicine.

Source: The BBC

Posted in 'super spreader', BBC, catastrophes, coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak, Germany, Hola Mohalla, ignored advice, India, Italy, outbreak, People, preacher, Punjab, quarantines, Rajasthan, returning, Sikh festival, trip, Uncategorized, Virus | Leave a Comment »

27/03/2020

Coronavirus travel: China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise

A queue at a fever clinic in Hubei province on FridayImage copyright AFP / GETTY
Image caption A queue at a fever clinic in Hubei province on Friday

China has announced a temporary ban on all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits.

The country is also limiting Chinese and foreign airlines to one flight per week, and flights must not be more than 75% full.

Although China reported its first locally-transmitted coronavirus case for three days on Friday, almost all its new cases now come from abroad.

There were 55 new cases across China on Thursday – 54 of them from overseas.

What are the new rules?

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was “suspending the entry of foreign nationals” because of the “rapid spread of Covid-19 across the world”.

The suspension applies to people with visas and residence passes, but not to diplomats or those with C visas (usually aircraft crew).

People with “emergency humanitarian needs” or those working in certain fields can apply for exceptions.

Although the rules seem dramatic, many foreign airlines had already stopped flying to China – and a number of cities already had restrictions for arrivals.

Last month, for example, Beijing ordered everyone returning to the city into a 14-day quarantine.

What is the coronavirus situation in China?

Although the virus emerged in China, it now has fewer cases than the US and fewer deaths than Italy and Spain.

There have been 81,340 confirmed cases in China and 3,292 deaths, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

In total, 565 of those confirmed cases were classed as “imported” – either foreigners coming into China, or returning Chinese nationals.

In Hubei – the province where the outbreak began – there were no new confirmed or suspected cases on Thursday.

The lockdown in provincial capital Wuhan, which began in January, will be eased on 8 April.

Media caption Stephen McDonell met people in Beijing heading out after the lockdown

Source: The BBC

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27/03/2020

China’s Xi offers Trump help in fighting coronavirus as U.S. faces wave of new patients

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump during a phone call on Friday that he would have China’s support in fighting the coronavirus, as the United States faces the prospect of becoming the next global epicentre of the pandemic.

The United States now has the most coronavirus cases of any country, with 84,946 infections and 1,259 deaths. Hospitals in cities like New York and New Orleans struggle to cope with the wave of patients.

Xi’s offer of assistance came amid a long-running war of words between Beijing and Washington over various issues including the coronavirus epidemic.

Trump and some U.S. officials have accused China of a lack of transparency on the virus, and Trump has at times called the coronavirus a “China virus” as it originated there, angering Beijing.

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  • Foreigners face suspicion in China as coronavirus worsens overseas

In the call, Xi reiterated to Trump that China had been open and transparent about the epidemic, according to an account of the conversation published by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Trump said on Twitter that he discussed the coronavirus outbreak “in great detail” with Xi.

“China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the virus,” Trump said. “We are working closely together. Much respect!”.

The World Health Organization has said the United States, which saw 17,099 new coronavirus cases and 281 deaths in the past 24 hours, is expected to become the epicentre of the pandemic.

CHINA CUTS FLIGHTS

Like U.S. hospitals now, China’s medical system struggled to contain the coronavirus just two months ago, but draconian city lockdowns and severe travel restrictions has seen China dramatically ease the epidemic.

Mainland China on Friday reported its first local coronavirus case in three days and 54 new imported cases, as Beijing ordered airlines to sharply cut international flights, for fear travellers could reignite the coronavirus outbreak.

The 55 new cases detected on Thursday were down from 67 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said on Friday, taking the tally of infections to 81,340. China’s death toll stood at 3,292 as of Thursday, up by five from a day earlier.

The central province of Hubei, with a population of about 60 million, reported no new cases on Thursday, a day after lifting a lockdown and reopening its borders as the epidemic eased there.

The commercial capital of Shanghai reported the most new imported cases with 17, followed by 12 in the southern province of Guangdong and four each in the capital Beijing and the nearby city of Tianjin.

Shanghai now has 125 patients who arrived from overseas, including 46 from Britain and 27 from the United States.

In effect from Sunday, China has ordered its airlines to fly only one route to any country, on just one flight each week. Foreign airlines must comply with similar curbs on flights to China, although many had already halted services.

About 90% of current international flights into China will be suspended, cutting arrivals to 5,000 passengers a day, from 25,000, the civil aviation regulator said late on Thursday.

From Saturday, China will temporarily suspend entry for foreigners with valid visas and residence permits, in an interim measure, the foreign ministry added.

Before the new curbs, foreign nationals made up about a tenth of the roughly 20,000 travellers arriving on international flights every day, an official of China’s National Immigration Administration said last week.

As commercial flights dwindle, Chinese students from wealthy families are paying tens of thousands of dollars to fly home on private jets.

International demand for chartered and private flights into China increased 227% in March from a year earlier, said Shanghai-based private jet service provider iFlyPlus.

Notably, requests for flights from the United States to China rose 10-fold in late March, iFlyPlus told Reuters.

Source: Reuters

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27/03/2020

Coronavirus: Can one woman make kindness catch on in India?

 

Caremongers posterImage copyright CAREMONGERS INDIA

With India under lockdown and social distancing being advised to deal with the threat of the coronavirus, an online collective of “Caremongers” is reaching out to help the elderly and other vulnerable groups.

It started last week when Mahita Nagaraj, a digital marketing professional and single mum, received a call from a close friend in the UK requesting her to help arrange some medicines for her “very elderly parents”.

Within hours, she heard from another friend living in the US with a similar question: can you ensure that my parents have provisions for the month?

Ms Nagaraj, who lives in the southern city of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), says that set her thinking about other friends whose elderly parents didn’t have anyone to call upon.

So, she posted a message on Facebook asking people to get in touch if they needed help.

The response she got was “overwhelming”. People reached out to her from all over India and, surprisingly, most who got in touch said they wanted to help out too.

And thus was born Caremongers India – a Facebook group, asking people to “stop scaremongering and start caremongering” – on 17 March.

“There is so much scaremongering in the current scenario,” says Ms Nagaraj. “We are trying to address the feeling of helplessness in the people. We are telling people to stop spreading fear and panic, and instead spread love.”

Mahita NagarajImage copyright CAREMONGERS INDIA
Image caption Mahita Nagaraj set up Caremongers India after her friends called her to seek help

Ms Nagaraj says she learnt about caremongering from a BBC article from Canada. The concept actually started in Toronto to help vulnerable people, but within days it spread to cover almost all of Canada with tens of thousands signing up.

Reports of altruism have come in from other parts of the world too. Britons are delivering soup to the elderly, in the US neighbours are helping those quarantined with buying groceries and one Long Island mother, infected with the virus, wrote about a neighbour who cooked a lasagne and left it outside her door.

Along with all the fear and panic caused by the coronavirus, the pandemic has also seen kindness go viral across the globe, with neighbours and complete strangers pitching in to help.

In India too, caremongering took off from the word go – in the first 24 hours, the Facebook group had 200 members. A week later, it has become a pan-India network with more than 6,500 volunteers.

Ms Nagaraj says she realised that on Facebook, most people were getting in touch to offer help, but only a few were asking for help. So, on Friday night, she launched a helpline number and since then, “it’s gone crazy”.

Caremongers India offers help to those who are most at risk of health complications due to the virus like the elderly, the disabled, those with pre-existing health conditions and anyone with an infant under a year.

In less than a week, Ms Nagaraj says, she has received thousands of calls and messages and although a large number of them have been to verify whether the number is genuine, she has also taken hundreds of requests for assistance.

Listed on the Caremongers India page are countless examples of assistance sought and provided; and testimonials and messages of gratitude.Transparent line (white space)

Wiping away the scareImage copyright IMAGE COURTESY: DUNZOTransparent line (white space)Besides those calling in from within India, Ms Nagaraj has been fielding dozens of calls from people across the globe seeking help for their elderly parents and grandparents.

“When people give their requirement and address, we match the requester with the closest volunteer,” she explains.

So last Saturday, when Amit Joshi, a resident of an upscale apartment block in the Delhi suburb of Noida, called the helpline, he was connected to Caremonger Madhavi Juneja, who also lives in Noida.

“We woke up to the news that our apartment complex was under lockdown,” Mr Joshi told me.

A resident had tested positive for the coronavirus and Mr Joshi was informed that they would not be allowed to leave home for a week.

“Police had put up barricades outside on the road and our complex was swamped with disaster management teams and health officials. Everything around us was shuttered. There was complete panic,” he says.

Mr Joshi, who lives with his wife and elderly parents, says his biggest worry was how to get essentials like bread and milk.

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And when he received a random WhatsApp forward from a colleague about Caremongers India, he decided to call them.

A few hours later, Ms Juneja, a psychotherapist and life coach, turned up at the gate of Mr Joshi’s housing society and handed over the supplies to him.

“I wore a mask and took my bottle of hand sanitiser and drove to his complex to carry out the delivery,” she said.

“Because the street was barricaded, I parked my car and then walked. If I had left it outside, someone else could have taken it. After I handed over the package to him, I sanitised my hands and got back into my car.”

Media caption People panicked after Narendra Modi said nobody should leave their homes, and did not mention the status of essential supplies

Mr Joshi says, “In trying times like these, to have people selflessly reaching out to those in need has strengthened my belief in humanity.”

Ms Nagaraj says it’s “so heartening” to see that so many people want to help.

“Every request we receive is very special when we fulfil it. When a daughter calls to say her dad who lives alone requires provisions, we work hard to ensure he gets it.”

Ms Nagaraj says caremongering has taken over life and even her home.

“It’s not easy to answer 450 calls a day,” she says, “but when you help others, you go to bed thinking you haven’t wasted your day and that’s good enough for me.”

Source: The BBC

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25/03/2020

Nike turns to digital sales during China shutdown

A woman reads the sign on the door of the closed Niketown store on Oxford Street, London.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES

Sportswear firm Nike has seen online sales rise by more than 30% in China as it rides out its coronavirus store shutdowns.

The US firm has shut the majority of its stores globally, but says 80% have now reopened in China.

“We expect the next several weeks to be a challenging period,” said Nike chief executive John Donahoe, talking about the US and Europe.

He hopes Nike can use the lessons learned in China to navigate its Western market shutdowns.

“Consumers are back in the stores,” Mr Donahoe said of Nike’s Chinese outlets. “They are often wearing facemasks, but they’re back in the store”.

Nike reported a 5% drop in Chinese sales to $1.5bn in its last financial quarter, which runs to the end of February. It was the first decline in China for the company in almost six years.

But it has seen strong online sales, rising by 36% during the quarter. It hopes this trend will help cushion a fall in sales from store closures.

Nike also saw an “extraordinary rise” in its personal training apps in China, designed for home workouts. User activity was up 80% as China faced a national lockdown with residents staying at home.

The sportswear firm said it would push on with some new product launches originally intended for the Olympics “when the time is right”. Nike has been promoting its sustainable footwear, made from recyclable materials.

On Tuesday the IOC announced it was postponing the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games until next year because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Source: The BBC

Posted in China, coronavirus, Coronavirus pandemic, digital sales, Europe, facemasks, IOC, Olympics, Paralympic Games, shutdown, Sportswear, Tokyo 2020 Olympic, turns, Uncategorized, worldwide | Leave a Comment »

25/03/2020

Spain’s coronavirus death toll overtakes China’s

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s coronavirus death toll jumped by 738 overnight to exceed that of China, where the disease originated, as the country struggled to cope with an accelerating health crisis and another senior government minister was diagnosed with the virus.

With 3,434 fatalities, Spain now has the second highest number of deaths globally after Italy’s 6,820. Nursing homes across the country have been overwhelmed by cases and a skating rink in Madrid has been turned into a makeshift morgue.

Police stood guard on Wednesday outside the rink, normally a popular venue for children’s birthday parties, as hearses arrived at the building.

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The government said Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo had tested positive for coronavirus – the third cabinet member to be infected – but was doing well.

Broad avenues in Madrid and Barcelona were virtually deserted, as were towns and villages across Spain, while fire engines and tractors sprayed disinfectant to clean streets.

Authorities began to carry out mass testing for public workers in a requisitioned fairground in Madrid, one of the worst-hit regions.

Spanish medical staff, who themselves account for thousands of infected cases, have taken out lawsuits against the government, complaining of the lack of basic protective equipment like masks, scrubs and gloves.

The Spanish army has asked NATO for ventilators, protective gear and testing kits, Armed Forces Chief Miguel Villarroya said on Wednesday.

The government had ordered 432 million euros ($467 million) worth of masks, gloves, testing kits and ventilators to be delivered over the next eight weeks, with the first large batch expected this week, Health Minister Salvador Illa said.

In an example of how companies are changing assembly lines to produce medical products, a shoe factory in northern Spain has switched to making simple protective masks – first for its own personnel and then for distribution.

“Now we are working hard to … make something a little more sophisticated for it to reach medical use,” Basilio Garcia, chief executive of the Callaghan shoe factory, told Reuters.

Spain is on Day 11 of a 15-day nationwide lockdown which is likely to be extended to 30 days. Schools, bars, restaurants and most shops are shuttered. Social gatherings are banned. People are confined to their homes.

“We have achieved a near total reduction in social contact,” health emergency chief Fernando Simon told a news conference, adding that Spain was nearing the peak of the epidemic.

The number of coronavirus cases increased by a fifth overnight to 47,610 on Wednesday. The total number could be much higher as the government reported 130,000 sick leaves associated with the virus, encompassing workers who are either infected or in preventive isolation. The number does not include retirees.

Aside from the devastating health impact, the lockdown has dealt a punishing blow to the Spanish economy, with tens of thousands of workers temporarily laid off as sectors like retail, tourism and manufacturing grind to a halt. One of Spain’s biggest employers, El Corte Ingles, said it would temporarily lay off 22,000 workers at its department stores.

At Malaga airport in southern Spain, a gateway to the Costa del Sol tourist region, thousands of travellers waited for flights home, many sleeping on seats or on the floor.

The Bank of Spain said on Wednesday that there had been severe disruption on the economy since early March and a sharp contraction in consumer spending.

Source: Reuters

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