02/04/20 COVID-19 Global News Update

Global oil prices have risen after Donald Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their price war. The cost of crude had fallen to 18-year lows as the two countries slashed prices and ramped up production.

Insurers are increasingly worried about shareholders, employees or customers bringing coronavirus-related claims against company executives and are considering excluding the virus from policies which protect the bosses, industry sources say.

The Financial Conduct Authority wants banks to help borrowers in difficulty because of the outbreak.

The FTSE 100 has risen this morning after a steep fall yesterday as investors try to find a footing as the coronavirus pandemic slows economies around the world. Britain’s FTSE 100 index was 0.9 per cent higher shortly after the bell at 5,499 points.

British Airways is expected to announce it will suspend 36,000 staff, from cabin crew to ground staff, engineers and head office employees, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

UK house prices rose three per cent last month just before the coronavirus outbreak hit, according to Nationwide figures released today.

It would be unacceptable for banks to unfairly refuse funds to good businesses that are in difficulty because of the coronavirus pandemic, Britain’s business minister Alok Sharma said on Wednesday.

The chancellor Rishi Sunak is reportedly set to overhaul the government’s emergency coronavirus loan scheme over concerns that small and medium sized businesses may go bust before they can access the funds.

Marks and Spencer will give frontline staff across its stores and supply chain a 15 per cent bonus for their work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling has called for the government to temporarily cut VAT to help people deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

Up to 3,000 armed forces reservists are being called up to aid the military response to the coronavirus pandemic. Individuals with specialist skills will provide medical and logistical support to the NHS, engineers and accountants, the Ministry of Defence said.

Testing is the solution to "unlock the puzzle" of coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. Mr Johnson was speaking after it was revealed some 2,000 NHS England staff have been tested for the virus, out of a workforce of about 1.2 million.

A climate summit that had been due to take place in Glasgow in November has been postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak, officials said on Wednesday, throwing new uncertainty into talks to tackle global warming.

A shortage of moderators who combat sexual abuse online combined with children spending more time on the internet at home has created a “perfect storm” for abusers to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the UK’s biggest safeguarding charities has warned.

The government is to set up a virtual parliament to allow MPs to scrutinise its response to the coronavirus crisis following demands from the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and opposition parties.

The introduction of mass testing for coronavirus is being hampered by health officials enforcing strict rules around what chemical brands and suppliers can be used to produce the tests, scientists warn.

Private schools in the UK are facing a battle for survival in the face of the coronavirus crisis as parents who have lost their income cancel direct debits and overseas pupils who have gone home decide whether to return.

The Wimbledon tennis championships were cancelled for the first time since World War Two today as the coronavirus pandemic wiped another blue-riband sports event off the calendar.

The government is gearing up to launch a new app that will alert users if they have come too close to someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.

Nearly 1m people in the UK have applied for Universal Credit in the two weeks since Prime Minister Boris Johnson implemented strict lockdown measures, the government said today. There are normally around 100,000 applicants per two week period – in the last two weeks there were 950,000.

Five cultural events, including the Fringe and the Military Tattoo, will not take place in August.

Donald Trump has said China’s reported death toll and infections from the coronavirus seem “a little bit on the light side,” as US lawmakers and members of the intelligence community accused Beijing of intentionally under reporting the scale of the outbreak.

Australia’s national science agency said on Thursday it has commenced the first stage of testing potential vaccines for COVID-19, as it joins a global race to halt the coronavirus pandemic.

Australia on Thursday announced free childcare for six months as part of a bid to keep businesses operating through the coronavirus pandemic, as data on new infections supported early signs of “flattening the curve.”

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen to 73,522 while 872 people have died of the disease, statistics from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.

Covid-19 infections are nearing the one million mark after “near exponential growth” saw global cases more than double in the past week.

The U.N. atomic agency is sending an initial batch of equipment to about 40 countries with which they will be able to perform a standard test for the coronavirus involving a technique derived from nuclear science, it said on Wednesday.

Two planes packed with protective equipment arrived to restock Spain’s overloaded public health system on Wednesday as its confirmed coronavirus cases rose beyond 100,000 and it recorded its biggest one-day death toll from the outbreak.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) voiced deep concern on Wednesday about “the rapid escalation and global spread” of COVID-19 cases from the new coronavirus, which has now reached 205 countries and territories.

The Netherlands on Wednesday proposed establishing a fund for nations worst hit by the new coronavirus and has asked other countries in the European Union to contribute, Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said.

The United Nations warned of potentially “dire” long-term effects of the coronavirus outbreak on countries and the global economy and called for greater international cooperation to fight the pandemic.

The European Union has weathered the storms of eurozone bailouts, the migration crisis and Brexit, but some fear coronavirus could be even more destructive.

British American Tobacco, the maker of brands including Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges, has said it has a potential coronavirus vaccine in development using tobacco plants.