El Salvador registers first coronavirus infection, president says

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador has registered its first case of coronavirus infection in the country, President Nayib Bukele said on Wednesday.

In a televised address, Bukele said the person was known to have visited Italy recently.

Volunteer group donates medical gear to VGH as number of B.C. coronavirus hospitalizations climbs

A Vancouver Chinese-Canadian community group is stepping up to help ensure health care workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic have the supplies they need.

The B.C. Chinese Canadian Charity Group dropped off 150 sets of medical goggles, 150 protective suits and 200 full face masks at Vancouver General Hospital on Wednesday.

Japan to review school closures based on expert meeting

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese government will consider what to do about school closures and public events based on a meeting of coronavirus experts to be held later on Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe late last month requested that all schools close temporarily in March to fight the spread of the virus.

Public broadcaster NHK reported earlier that the meeting is expected to recommend cancellations be decided by region, and that restrictions on activities could be lifted in areas not affected by the virus.

Lou Dobbs Reaches ‘North Korea Levels’ Of Trump Adoration With Bizarre Poll

Fox Business host Lou Dobbs took his exaltation of President Donald Trump to new highs on Wednesday.

In a poll shared on-air and on Twitter, Dobbs asked viewers to rate the president’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, opting, as he regularly does on air, to call the new coronavirus the “Wuhan Virus” ― a xenophobic misnomer that the World Health Organization has repeatedly asked people not to use.

His poll offered three ratings, ranging from “very good” to “superb.”

Dobbs read the polling options sincerely on air, urging viewers to cast their votes on Twitter.

In reality, Trump’s response to the coronavirus has lost him the confidence of many voters, and a majority of Americans do not feel as if they can’t trust the information he shares about coronavirus, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

The president’s slow response and repeated downplaying of the outbreak’s severity created dangerous complacency and squandered valuable time needed to prepare for and mitigate the crisis, which has now resulted in more than 7,000 infections and 97 deaths in the U.S.

Twitter users noted that even for Dobbs, who is among Trump’s most devoted allies, this level of praise was disturbing and reminiscent of dictatorship propagandists.

Nifty falls below the 8,000-mark for the first time since December 2016

Benchmark equity indices lost over 7% in the first few minutes of the trading session on Thursday with the Nifty falling below the 8,000-mark for the first time since December 2016.

At 9:25 a.m., the Nifty was trading at 7,861, down 608 points or 7.18%. The Sensex plunged 2,119 points or 7.34% to fall below the 27,000-mark at 26,750.

More than 1,100 stocks lost ground during the morning session as against less than 150 declines.

All thr 30 constituents of the Sensex pack were in the red with stocks like IndusInd Bank, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank all shedding more than 10% each.

Hugo Boss Temporarily Closes Stores; Says FY Outlook Is No Longer Valid

Hugo Boss (HUGSF.PK) announced that it has temporarily closed a large number of retail stores as well as many points-of-sale at important partners in Europe and North America, as a result of global spread of COVID-19 and to protect the public. At the same time, the Company also fully complies with the regulations of the respective authorities.

Hugo Boss said the impact of store closures to its sales and earnings was impossible to quantify at this point. As a result, the company specified that the outlook for the fiscal year 2020 announced during 2019 results on March 5, is no longer valid.

In the context of social responsibility, HUGO BOSS makes contribution to protect its employees and customers, to interrupt chains of infection and to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In order to secure its financial flexibility and stability as well as to maintain its healthy balance sheet structure, HUGO BOSS has initiated extensive measures all aimed at protecting the Group’s free cash flow. The Group also stated that it continues to focus on strengthening its two brands, BOSS and HUGO.

Australia's CBA cuts rates for small business and household borrowers

March 19 (Reuters) – Commonwealth Bank of Australia cut interest rates for small business and household customers on Thursday after the country’s central bank cut rates for a second time this month and ventured into quantitative easing to tackle the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

CBA cut rates on existing cash-linked small business loans by 100 basis points, and one-, two- and three-year fixed home loan rates by 70 basis points for owner occupiers.

On the other hand, it increased interest paid on 12-month term deposits to 1.70%.

Coronavirus: Australia bans non-residents from entering the country

SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday (March 19) all non-citizens and non-residents would be banned from entering the country from 9pm local time (1000 GMT) Friday.

“The overwhelming proportion of cases in Australia have been imported,” Morrison told a televised briefing in Canberra.

Australia has recorded around 600 coronavirus infections and six deaths, a relatively small number compared to other countries, but officials are growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of a rapid spike in cases.