- Title: Shut shops, cologne rush and nervous fliers amid coronavirus shock
- Date: 12th March 2020
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 12, 2020) (REUTERS) SCREEN SHOWING MARKET DATA DEALERS WORKING AT THEIR DESKS HANDS TYPING ON KEYBOARD SCREEN SHOWING MARKET DATA VENICE, ITALY (MARCH 12, 2020) (REUTERS) EMPTY CANAL FEW LOCALS GATHERED IN SQUARE WALKING THROUGH EMPTY ALLEYWAY TO EMPTY SQUARE VARIOUS OF CLEANER IN PROTECTIVE SUITS SANITISING STEPS
- Embargoed: 26th March 2020 20:59
- Keywords: Global markets suffered record Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte President Donald Trump coronavirus flight ban
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Various
- Topics: Health/Medicine,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA006C4QZTXJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Global markets suffered record falls on Thursday (March 12) as alarm over the coronavirus intensified, and governments from Ireland to Italy unveiled new measures to try to slow the spread of a disease that has infected more than 127,000 people worldwide.
Iran on Thursday reported 75 new deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, bringing the death toll to 429 in the worst-hit country in the Middle East.
The announcement came as the country said it had asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $5 billion in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Iranian officials have repeatedly urged people to avoid unnecessary trips and stay at home.
In Europe, travellers rushed to board flights to the United States after President Donald Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on travel from the continent, a decision that angered leaders there.
Trump had restricted certain travel from Europe to the United States in a televised address on Wednesday (March 11), and on Thursday, weary and confused travellers rushed to airports to board the last flights back to the United States.
The outbreak has disrupted industry, travel, entertainment and sports worldwide, and prompted airlines to appeal for urgent aid from their governments.
In Italy, where the death toll passed 1,000, the government imposed a blanket closure of restaurants, bars and almost all shops except food stores and pharmacies.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Thursday that many more families would see their loved ones die from coronavirus, as the government's chief scientific adviser said Britain likely has as many as 10,000 people infected.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday announced strict immigration curbs and a halt on domestic land, sea and air travel to and from Manila, in what he called a "lockdown" of the capital to arrest the spread of coronavirus.
Duterte approved a resolution allowing a raft of measures including bans on mass gatherings, a month of school closures and community quarantining, and threatened to jail local officials who defied government orders.
Large parts of Denmark was in lockdown on Thursday after emergency measures by the government to shut all schools and universities and send home all employees in the public sector with non-critical jobs to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The government said it would release banks' so-called counter-cyclical capital buffer immediately, which is designed to ensure banks have the means to lend out money in difficult financial times.
(Production: Vin Shahrestani) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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