New York Cases Climb; South by Southwest Canceled: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) -- New York cases of the coronavirus rose by 11 to 44. Meanwhile, organizers canceled the South by Southwest gathering scheduled for this month in Austin, Texas.

Washington state health officials sent 15 nursing home patients to the hospital. The facility, which has the most new coronavirus cases and deaths in the state, will be visited by U.S. officials on Saturday.

Worldwide infections topped 100,000. President Donald Trump signed a $7.8 billion emergency coronavirus spending bill. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized China, saying it was frustrating to work with the Communist Party.

U.S. stocks staged a furious rally at the end of Friday’s trading that pushed the S&P 500 higher after a tumultuous week dominated by fear the spreading virus will upend global growth. Oil tanked.

Key Developments:

• Cases surpass 100,000 worldwide; deaths top 3,400
• Virus strains U.S. health system with supply, test shortage
• South Korea retaliates over Japan’s quarantine call
• Air travel poised for worst year on record
• White House is working on more economic measures
• Minnesota is the latest state to report a case
• Credit market endures worst day in decade

Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here.

New York Infections Jump to 44 (5:06 p.m. NY)

New York state reported 11 new cases, bringing the total to 44, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Twitter. Eight of the new cases are in Westchester County, while three are in Nassau.

Latin American Nations Report First Cases (4:30 p.m. NY)

In Latin America, Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica all reported their first cases of the new coronavirus.

The case in Peru is a 25-year-old man who contracted it on vacation in Europe, RPP reports. In Colombia, a test on a 19-year-old female student from Milan was confirmed Friday, Bogota’s mayor said on Twitter. A 49-year-old American tourist to Costa Rica tested positive, the nation’s health minister said.

Brazil is reporting 13 cases and Chile 5. No deaths have been reported in the region.

Drop in Travel May Cost $50 Billion: UN (2:20 p.m. NY)

A drop in global travel this year may cost a loss in business of as much as $50 billion, the United Nations World Tourism Organization said Friday.

Asia and the Pacific will be the hardest hit, with a drop in arrivals of 9% to 12%. The agency said estimating effects in other regions is premature, given the spread of the illness. The agency had predicted 3% to 4% growth this year.

Italy Clarifies Possible Quarantine Plan (2:15 p.m. NY)

Silvio Brusaferro later clarified that Italy is not studying quarantine for the entire Milan region but that health authorities are evaluating some measures for the region and other areas at risk.

Italy Studying Quarantine for Milan Region (1:50 p.m. NY)

Italy is evaluating new measures to contain the coronavirus contagion in Lombardy, the area around Milan, including extending a quarantine to the entire region.

Silvio Brusaferro, head of Italy’s National Institute of Health, said at a press briefing said a larger quarantine is under discussion. Italy, the center of the outbreak in Europe, has 4,636 cases and almost 200 deaths.

Fifteen Nursing Home Patients Sent to Hospital (1:23 p.m. NY)

Health officials in Washington state’s King County have sent 15 patients from a nursing home to the hospital. Conditions at the facility have “significantly improved” and everybody will have been tested shortly, according to a King County health official.

A team of 30 federal officials will arrive on Saturday to help with the situation at the nursing home.

U.S. Tests Fewer Than 2,000 for Virus, Atlantic Reports (12:03 p.m. NY)

Despite a surge in production of kits to test for the new coronavirus, only 1,895 people have been tested in the U.S, The Atlantic reported. About 10% of those tested positive.

States are handling reporting how many tests are being administered and the CDC has stopped publishing the data, complicating efforts to collect complete figures, the magazine says. The information was collected from government websites and interviews. Public health officials can currently administer only thousands of tests a day nationwide, instead of the tens or hundreds of thousands promised by the White House, The Atlantic said.

“The net effect of these choices is that the country’s true capacity for testing has not been made clear to its residents. This level of obfuscation is unexpected in the United States, which has long been a global leader in public-health transparency,” the magazine wrote.

Moderna’s Vaccine Trial Set to Begin This Month (11:50 a.m. NY)

Human studies of an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. are set to begin this month, as a host of companies race to make shots to fight the rapidly spreading illness.

WHO Says Virus Won’t Just Disappear in Warm Months (11:30 a.m. NY)

“It’s a false hope to say it will just disappear in the summer like influenza,” said Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergency programs.

The coronavirus is spreading into more low-income countries, which is concerning because they might not be prepared, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the group’s daily briefing.

Trump to Visit CDC After Concern Disrupted Trip (11:26 a.m. NY)

U.S. President Donald Trump will visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday, a trip that initially was canceled because of concern that someone at the agency may have contracted the coronavirus.

Lufthansa Slices Schedule in Half on Hit to Sales (10:35 a.m. NY)

Lufthansa has slashed capacity by up to 50% in the most aggressive move yet by a major European airline to cope with the severe fall-off in travel triggered by the coronavirus.

Gap Closes New York Office After Worker Infected (10:47 a.m. NY)

Preppy apparel retailer Gap Inc. has closed its New York City headquarters after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus.

The building is located at 55 Thomas St. in Lower Manhattan. The person isn’t in the office and is recovering at home, according to a memo sent to Gap workers at the location.

Trump Adviser Kudlow Says to Avoid Seattle Area (10:45 a.m. NY)

Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Americans should avoid traveling to Seattle, Washington, which has been the hardest hit region in the U.S. with at least 11 people dying of the virus.

Kudlow said the U.S. should consider a targeted approach to providing financial assistance related to the virus.

London Heathrow Baggage Handlers Test Positive (10:32 a.m. NY)

Coronavirus has reached Europe’s busiest airport, after two British Airways baggage handlers at London Heathrow tested positive for the disease.

The affected workers are recovering in isolation at home, British Airways parent IAG SA said Friday in an email. A small number of the luggage handlers’ colleagues are also being tested, a person familiar with the matter said.

The outbreak’s presence at such a heavily taraversed junction is likely to escalate concerns about air travel after the virus’s spread from Asia caused consumers in Europe and the U.S. to pull back. The International Air Transport Association warned this week that carriers may lose $113 billion in sales this year, almost four times greater than its estimate of the epidemic’s impact from just two weeks earlier.

Hong Kong Expands Health Declarations at Airport (9:44 a.m. NY)

Hong Kong’s government is expanding health declarations at the airport to cover all flights. The city’s health authorities have urged residents to consider delaying all non-essential foreign travel.

U.K. Reports 48 New Cases (9:15 a.m. NY)

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.K. jumped to 163 from 115. The rise in infections follows the nation’s first coronavirus death on Thursday. The elderly patient, who had underlying medical conditions, is believed to have contracted the virus in the country. Health officials have said they’re bracing for a potential period of mounting cases.

Half of German Firms Expecting Sales Hit (9:05 a.m. NY)

Half of German companies expect sales to suffer this year due to the virus, according to a survey of about 10,000 firms by the DIHK industry group published Friday. More than a quarter expect revenue to decline by more than 10%, with the travel and hospitality sectors among those suffering the most, preliminary survey results showed.

Trump Signs $7.8 Billion Virus Bill (9:01 a.m. NY)

The amount of money provided in the legislation far exceeds Trump’s original request -- $1.25 billion in new funds and another $1.25 billion from other government social and health programs. Lawmakers said they expect Congress will have to provide more emergency funding before the virus outbreak subsides.

British Airways Says Two Staff Test Positive (8:50 a.m. NY)

Affected employees work in baggage handling at London Heathrow airport, according to a person familiar with the matter. They have been isolated and are recovering at home, the airline said.

Pompeo Criticizes China’s Initial Response (8:25 a.m. NY)

“The information that we got at the front end of this thing wasn’t perfect and has led us now to a place where much of the challenge we face today has put us behind the curve,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, according to CNBC.

“That’s not the way infectious disease doctors tell me it should work. It’s not the way America works with transparency and openness and the sharing of the information that needs to take place.”

France Reports More Cases, Global Tally Tops 100,000 (8:22 a.m. NY)

The French health ministry said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country had risen by 154 to 577. Two more people have died, taking total deaths to nine.

Bullard Says Fed Watching Virus Fallout, Willing to Do More (7:59 a.m. NY)

“We correctly positioned the policy rate given what we knew,” Bullard said in an interview Friday on Bloomberg Television, referring to the Fed’s emergency 50 basis point cut on Tuesday. “Everything is on the table. We are willing to do more. But we are monitoring the situation. We can meet at any time.”

Apple’s 5G IPhone Launch May See Delay, BofA Says (12:50 a.m. NY)

Apple Inc.’s highly anticipated 5G iPhone could see a delayed release as a result of the coronavirus, according to BofA, which cited a conversation with an expert on the company’s supply chain. The expert, Elliot Lan, wrote that the “the iPhone 5G launch in the fall could see a month of delay,” and that he expects the launch of the iPhone SE2 will be delayed “by a few months” due to “both supply issues as well as the weaker demand environment from COVID-19.”

According to BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan, the launch timing for upcoming models will “depend on how production ramps back up in April and May.”

South Korea Hits Back at Japan Over Quarantine Push (12:46 a.m. NY)

South Korea retaliated against Japan for what it called an “irrational and excessive” request for its citizens to voluntarily quarantine themselves, as Tokyo’s outbreak-control measures renewed tensions between the neighbors. The country is raising its advisory for all of Japan to Level 2, or “refrain from travel,” and will would halt its visa-waiver program for Japan starting March 9.

Singapore Reports 13 New Coronavirus Cases (7:28 a.m. NY)

Singapore reported 13 new cases on Friday, the country’s largest number of new cases in a single day since the outbreak began in January. Nine of the new cases were tied to a private dinner function Feb. 15, Ministry of Health officials said. That brings the total to 130 confirmed cases, with 48 patients still being treated in hospitals. The country hasn’t had any fatalities and has been praised for its approach to the outbreak, including for offering to pay the public hospital bills of those infected.

Singapore’s National Development Minister Lawrence Wong had earlier warned the outbreak looks like it’s becoming a global pandemic. “It is not going to be possible to shut ourselves out,” said Wong, who is co-chair of a multi-ministry task force established to deal with the virus.

Top EU Diplomats’ Meeting Called Off (6:54 a.m. NY)

A meeting of COREPER -- the powerful body of European Union government envoys in Brussels who run the bloc’s legislative process -- was called off. The Croatian envoy, who holds the rotating presidency of the group, put herself in isolation after coming to contact with a European Council staff member who was confirmed to be infected. The group convened last night and it’s unclear whether all envoys have been exposed and to what extent.

The virus is causing serious disruption in the functioning of EU institutions. According to an email circulated to the Council of the EU -- the bloc’s main legislator -- and seen by Bloomberg, an infected member of staff had contacts with several colleagues, including diplomats representing national governments, this week.

Vatican Closes Clinic After Patient Tests Positive (6:40 a.m. NY)

The Vatican temporarily closed its clinic after one patient tested positive for coronavirus. Vatican City is home to about 600 people, including Pope Francis.

The Vatican is studying further measures to prevent contagion, including closing to the public events in St. Peter’s Square that draw large crowds, such as the pope’s Sunday address. Francis himself tested negative for the virus earlier this week.

--With assistance from Adveith Nair, Jihye Lee, Jon Herskovitz, Shiho Takezawa, Max Zimmerman, Shoko Oda, Dina Bass, Edwin Chan, Harry Suhartono, Peter Elstrom, Greg Ritchie, Katharina Rosskopf, Charles Penty, Deana Kjuka, Patrick Winters, Bill Lehane, Gordana Filipovic, Alessandro Speciale, Andrew Davis, Flavia Rotondi, Nikos Chrysoloras, Siddharth Philip, Charlotte Ryan, Scott Soshnick, Jonathan Roeder, Mario Parker, Alexander Pearson, Thomas Mulier, James Paton, Matt Day, Tommaso Ebhardt and Steve Geimann.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Adveith Nair in London at anair29@bloomberg.net;Li Liu in Beijing at lliu255@bloomberg.net;Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net, ;Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Kara Wetzel

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With assistance from Bloomberg