Hundreds of workers have been made redundant in China as the country’s economy reels from the coronavirus outbreak.
Chinese firms struggled to get back to work after the extended Lunar New Year holiday, hundreds of them saying they would need loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat.
Company layoffs were beginning despite assurances by President Xi Jinping that widespread sackings would be avoided, as supply chains for global firms from car manufacturers to smartphone makers ruptured.
Chinese firm Xinchao Media said on Monday it had laid off 500 people, or just over a tenth of its workforce, and restaurant chain Xibei said it was worried about how to pay its roughly 20,000 workers.
Authorities said they would roll out measures to stabilise jobs, in addition to previously announced cuts to interest rates and fiscal stimulus designed to minimise any downturn.
The World Bank ruled out any new health loans to China, though technical assistance would be offered.
Updated
Singapore expects a 25-30% drop in visitor numbers this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, its tourism board has said.
Singapore has reported 45 cases of the virus, and some countries, such as Kuwait and Qatar, have already started advising their citizens against travel to the Southeast Asian business hub.
“The situation this year will be at least as severe as Sars and possibly worse,” Singapore Tourism Board chief executive Keith Tan said, referring to a 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that killed over 30 people in Singapore.
Tan said most of the reduction in visitors so far were from China due to travel restrictions, but that travellers from other countries were also deferring or cancelling trips to Singapore.
The Singapore government has said it expects a hit to its economy from the virus and is planning measures to support the tourism and hospitality industry.
Fitch Ratings estimates the tourism sector accounts for about 6% of the wealthy city-state’s economy.
The Church of England could suspend the sharing of chalices during communion because of coronavirus.
The church is “monitoring the situation closely and taking advice from the relevant medical authorities”, James Newcome, bishop of Carlisle, told the C of E’s ruling body, the general synod, meeting in London.
He reminded the synod that during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the church advised clergy to suspend chalice sharing and urged churches to post notices about hygiene.
“If the situation continues to get worse, that sort of [advice] will certainly be issued,” he said.
The Catholic church in England and Wales has issued guidance to priests which includes asking people with cold and flu symptoms to refrain from taking communion from the chalice and for all members of congregations to use hand sanitisers.
But it stopped short of suggesting the chalice to be withdrawn, or the sign of peace – when church-goers shake hands – to be suspended as happened in 2009.
The Cornerstone Community Cafe in Brighton remains closed after it emerged one of the latest coronavirus cases attended a yoga class there.
One of the web of people infected with the virus through businessman Steve Walsh had taken part in a Yoga For Runners course at the community centre on Hove’s Church Road.
A sign on the door reads:
Yesterday we were advised that a member of the Cornerstone is now being cared for by the NHS.
We have been reassured by Public Health England that no one else is at risk.
The centre is due to reopen on Monday 17 February.
Coronavirus named Covid-19
The new coronavirus has been named Covid-19 by the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a press conference a name was chosen that “did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease”.
He said:
Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, responsible for the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in 2002-03, and Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome).
The current novel coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, had remained unnamed until today.
Some coronaviruses cause serious illness, while others cause mild or moderate infections, like the common cold.
Updated
Two UK prisoners being tested for coronavirus
Two prisoners are being tested for coronavirus in Oxfordshire.
The men, who are inmates at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, are being kept in isolation.
One wing where the affected prisoners are has restricted access, but the prison remains operational, the Guardian understands.
Public Health England is on site to help manage the situation.
Updated
