WASHINGTON - U.S. senators and Trump administration officials have reached an agreement on a massive economic stimulus bill to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, White House official Eric Ueland said early on Wednesday.
“We have a deal,” Ueland told reporters after days of negotiations on the package, expected to be worth $2 trillion.
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The Senate’s Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, was expected to speak on the Senate floor shortly about the agreement.
The text of the pact was not expected to be available until later on Wednesday.
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The package had been expected to include a $500 billion fund to help hard-hit industries and a comparable amount for direct payments of up to $3,000 to millions of U.S. families, as well as $350 billion for small-business loans, $250 billion for expanded unemployment aid and $75 billion for hospitals.
It aims to cushion the economic blow from a pandemic that has killed more than 660 people in the United States and sickened more than 50,000, shuttered thousands of businesses, thrown millions out of work and led states to order 100 million people - nearly a third of the population - to stay at home.
The money at stake in the stimulus legislation exceeds what the U.S. government spends on national defense, scientific research, highway construction and other discretionary programs.
OTTAWA - A clearly unhappy Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said people defying advice to isolate themselves to fight a coronavirus outbreak should “go home and stay home” or face sanctions.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable
Trudeau also said the federal government would offer an additional C$5 billion ($3.4 billion) line of credit for farmers and agricultural producers to help them through a crisis that is battering the economy.
The number of people in Canada diagnosed with the coronavirus rose to 1,474 on Monday from 1,430 on Sunday, and the death toll stayed at 20, medical officials said.
Although Ottawa and the 10 provinces have urged Canadians to stay at home, and in some cases put limits on gatherings, Trudeau said too many people were still disregarding the advice.
“We’ve all seen the pictures online of people who seem to think they are invincible. Well, you’re not,” Trudeau said.
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“Enough is enough. Go home and stay home ... we’re going to make sure this happens, whether by educating people more on the risks or by enforcing the rules if that’s needed,” he told a daily news conference outside his residence, where he has been confined since his wife was diagnosed with the virus.
Federal and provincial officials said on Sunday that people ignoring advice to self-isolate or avoid large groups could be fined or even arrested.
Trudeau is due to speak to the provincial premiers later on Monday to coordinate the messaging on self-isolation. All the provinces have imposed some sort of state of emergency.
He also said he would discuss with them what the federal government could do under the 1988 Emergencies Act, which allows Ottawa to impose strict limits on the movement of people.
Officials said last week that using the act would be a last resort. Trudeau reiterated that “we haven’t taken anything off the table”.
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Legislators are due to return to Ottawa on Tuesday to pass a package of stimulus measures and tax relief worth a total of C$82 billion.
Trudeau, who says more steps to help the economy are coming, also said Ottawa would defer C$173 million in federal loans to farmers and invest C$192 million into vaccine research and production.
BRUSSELS - The lockdown of Belgium due to the coronavirus epidemic will continue for at least the next eight weeks, health minister Maggie De Block told the De Zondag paper on Sunday.
From March 22, Belgians were only allowed to leave home to buy food, for health-related errands or to assist someone in need. Schools and universities were closed and employees of most companies had to work from home.
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Non-essential travel abroad was prohibited until April 5, all gatherings were banned and police was patrolling the streets to monitor and enforce the restrictions.
Asked how long this would last, De Block said:
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“That’s the million dollar question! We are now heading toward the peak of the epidemic, after which the curve will descend. I think this situation will last for at least another eight weeks. It would be the normal curve.”
She said the estimate was based on what happened in China and South Korea, where the epidemic hit earlier.
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration said late on Saturday it will close the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center and New York LaGuardia Control Tower overnight for cleaning after another person tested positive for COVID-19.
An American airline plane is seen at the tarmac after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted flights arriving at New York City airports due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York, U.S., March 21, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The FAA said an individual at La Guardia tested positive, prompting the temporary shutdown of the tower that it said should have minimal impact on flights.
The FAA said New York Air Route Traffic Control Center will close at 11:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 a.m. for sanitization, while LaGuardia Control Tower will be closed from 11 p.m. EDT until 6 a.m. for sanitization.
The FAA said transatlantic services will be discontinued during the closure at New York Air Route Center and some flights may be held to avoid arriving during the cleaning.
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Earlier on Saturday, the FAA temporarily halted flights arriving at New York City airports and Philadelphia after a trainee at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center tested positive for COVID-19.
The FAA soon lifted the New York area ground stop order Saturday but some flights were delayed while flight management returned to normal. The positive test forced the FAA to close some air space sectors and reroute flights, the agency said.
Flightaware, a flight tracking website, said 600 flights had been canceled on Saturday at John F. Kennedy and Newark airports.
The FAA has had a series of issues this week due to cases of coronavirus at 10 U.S. facilities, forcing the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights and the closing of towers earlier this week at Chicago Midway and Las Vegas.
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More than 1,500 flights have been canceled at Las Vegas, where the tower is still closed, including more than 500 on Saturday. Another 300 flights were canceled at Midway on Saturday, where the tower also remains closed.
The FAA on Friday temporarily closed the tower at New York’s JFK, which led to some flight cancellations, and also shuttered part of the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center for cleaning after workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
PARIS - The French government has enough money to be able to pay its civil servants during the coronavirus crisis, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.
“The state will have enough money to pay its civil servants, there is no reason to have concerns about that. France has a solid government,” Le Maire said on LCI television.
Jamaica’s ministry of health and wellness confirmed on Tuesday the island nation’s first imported case of the coronavirus, in its capital city of Kingston.
The infected individual is a Jamaican female who had “travelled from the United Kingdom”, the ministry said in a statement.
The individual arrived in the island on March 4, approached the public health system on March 9 and has been in isolation since then, the statement added.
LONDON/LOS ANGELES - 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.
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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.
An ambulance drives away with a resident at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases, in Kirkland, Washington, U.S. March 6, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.
