Investors brace for more pain as India goes under lockdown to curb Covid-19

Analysts say the market bloodbath is worse than in 2008. Last week, investor sentiment was crushed with the Sensex dropping as much as 17%.

Investors may have to brace for more pain as selling pressure could extend with India entering a virtual shutdown phase to contain the spread of COVID-19. 

Already, foreign portfolio investors’ selloff in March hit a record of $6.24 billion (Rs 46,200 crore).

This is far in excess of $4.4 billion outflows seen in January 2008 due to the global financial crisis.

Analysts say the market bloodbath is worse than in 2008.

Last week, investor sentiment was crushed with the Sensex dropping as much as 17% before recovering sharply on Friday to end the week with a 12% deficit.

On a month-to-date basis, the markets are down 22%, while the India VIX has more than doubled, signalling extreme anxiety.

“Many nations may have to eventually adopt harsh steps to contain the pandemic.

 However, such extreme measures, though desired, will result in extreme short-term pain for several parts of the economy,” Sanjeev Prasad, co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities, said.

Microsoft's Silicon Valley staff to work from home amid coronavirus fears

Microsoft asked many of its employees in the Seattle region near its headquarters and the San Francisco Bay Area to work from home if possible until March 25.

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday joined the growing number of US companies asking employees to work from home in order to limit exposure to the spreading coronavirus outbreak, as it responded to cases near its Seattle headquarters and in California.

Microsoft asked many of its employees in the Seattle region near its headquarters and the San Francisco Bay Area to work from home if possible until March 25.

"Taking these measures will ensure your safety and also make the workplace safer for those that need to be onsite," Executive Vice President Kurt DelBene told employees in a blog post.

The post said that some employees for whom "it is essential to be in the office or other work environments" - such as data center and retail employees - should continue to go to their work locations and that the company would follow government guidelines for disinfecting its sites for essential personnel.

Microsoft also asked employees to suspend any business travel to the areas "unless essential for the continuity of Microsoft."

Microsoft also said employees should cancel non-essential travel to areas with active coronavirus cases - which includes much of Europe, Asia and the Americas - and that employees were not required to travel if they had concerns about doing so.

In the greater Seattle area, the total number of coronavirus cases climbed to 39 on Wednesday and 10 deaths, up from 27 cases and nine deaths a day earlier, the Washington State Health Department announced. The first death in California from the coronavirus was announced on Wednesday.

The Seattle area has the largest concentration of coronavirus cases detected to date in the United States. Several cases were connected to a long-term care facility for the elderly.

Microsoft also implemented new guidelines for employees who do come to its offices. It recommended "limiting prolonged close interactions with people" by keeping in-person meetings as short as possible and staying at least 6 feet, or 1.8 meters, away from others.

Concern over coronavirus spread as cases jump in South Korea, Italy, Iran

In Italy, the number of cases jumped to above 130 from just three before Friday.

International concern about the spread of coronavirus outside China grew on Sunday with sharp rises in infections in South Korea, Italy and Iran.

The government in Seoul put the country on high alert after the number of infections surged over 600 with six deaths. A focal point was a church in the southeastern city of Daegu, where a 61-year-old member of the congregation with no recent record of overseas travel tested positive for the virus.

In Italy, the number of cases jumped to above 130 from just three before Friday. Authorities sealed off the worst affected towns and banned public gatherings in much of the north, including halting the carnival in Venice, where there were two cases, to try to contain the biggest outbreak in Europe.

Italian health authorities were struggling to find out how the virus started. “If we cannot find ‘patient zero’ then it means the virus is even more ubiquitous than we thought,” said Luca Zaia, the regional governor of the wealthy Veneto region.

Iran, which announced its first two cases on Wednesday, said it had confirmed 43 cases and eight deaths, with most of the infections in the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom.

China, which has seen the vast majority of cases, reported 648 new infections. But only 18 were outside of Hubei province, the lowest number outside the epicentre since authorities began publishing data a month ago and locked down large parts of the country.

Coronavirus scare forces cancellation of Mobile World Congress

GSMA said Wednesday that this year's edition of Mobile World Congress will no longer be held as planned in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb 24-27.

Organizers of the world's biggest mobile technology fair are pulling the plug over worries about the viral outbreak from China.

GSMA said Wednesday that this year's edition of Mobile World Congress will no longer be held as planned in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb 24-27.

John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, said “global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event." The decision comes after dozens of tech companies and wireless carriers dropped out, with the latest cancelations by Nokia, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Britain's BT on Wednesday. Other big names that have already dropped out include Ericsson, Nokia, Sony, Amazon, Intel and LG. The companies cited concerns for the safety of staff and visitors.

Organizers had sought to hold out against growing pressure to cancel Mobile World Congress, an annual tech extravaganza that had been expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors from about 200 countries, including 5,000 to 6,000 from China.

The GSMA, the wireless trade body that organizes the fair, had said it was monitoring the virus situation closely, including meeting regularly with global and Spanish health experts and its partners to ensure the well-being of attendees.

Nokia said Wednesday it had decided to withdraw from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain “after a full assessment of the risks related to a fast-moving situation.” The company said “the health and well-being of employees was a primary focus” and that canceling its involvement was a “prudent decision." Phone company Vodafone said it was dropping out “after careful consideration" while Britain's BT said canceling was “the most responsible decision." The departures of Nokia and Ericsson had left China's Huawei, a major sponsor of the fair, as the only remaining major network gear maker still planning to attend.

China virus death toll reaches 1,110; world warned of 'very grave threat'

Coronavirus is believed to have emerged last year in a market that sells wild animals in Hubei's capital Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak.

The number of fatalities from China's new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,110 nationwide on Wednesday after hard-hit Hubei province reported 94 new deaths.

In its daily update, Hubei's health commission also confirmed another 1,638 new cases in the central province, where the outbreak emerged in December. There are now more than 44,200 confirmed cases across China, based on previously released figures from the government.

The new virus is believed to have emerged last year in a market that sells wild animals in Hubei's capital Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak. The virus was officially named "COVID-19" at a conference in Geneva held by the World Health Organization, where the body's chief said countries had a chance of stopping its global spread.

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that although 99 percent of cases are in China, where it remains "very much an emergency," it also "holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world." He urged countries to share data in order to further research the disease.

Chinese authorities dismissed two senior health officials from Hubei on Tuesday, where tens of millions of people have been under lockdown since late last month, and tightened restrictions in its capital Wuhan.

Coronavirus: China toll soars to 213, WHO declares world health emergency

Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths.

The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692, China's national authorities announced on Friday.

Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths, official media reported.

A total of 213 people have died of the disease as of Thursday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Chinese health authorities announced that 9,692 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Thursday.

About 20 countries, including India, have reported confirmed cases of the virus in travellers coming from China.

China said it has full confidence and capability to win the fight against the epidemic.

The WHO has declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency.

The UN health agency on Friday declared an international emergency over the deadly novel coronavirus from China -- a rarely used designation that could lead to improved international co-ordination in tackling the disease.

"Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems," World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he announced the virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Reacting to the announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a press statement said, "Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Chinese government has been taking the most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measures with a high sense of responsibility for people's health." Many of these measures go well beyond the requirements of the International Health Regulations, she said.

"We have full confidence and capability to win this fight against the epidemic," said the spokesperson.