Europe Braces for Coronavirus Impact as Italian Infections Soar
Europe braced for more fiscal fallout from the coronavirus on Sunday.
(Bloomberg) --
Europe braced for more fallout from the coronavirus on Sunday, as infections in Italy jumped 50% in a day, a dozen new cases were reported in the U.K. and the first infections broke out in the German financial capital of Frankfurt.
With almost 1,700 confirmed cases reported, Italy is the epicenter of the coronavirus in Europe and has the third-most infections in the world behind China and South Korea.
The Italian government aims to spend 3.6 billion euros ($4 billion) to help weather the crisis, including measures to cushion the economic impact on northern Italy, the focus of the country’s outbreak, Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri told La Repubblica newspaper.
European authorities have canceled some of the continent’s biggest business events, including the ITB tourism trade fair and Geneva Motor Show, banned large gatherings and tightened border controls in an effort to limit the virus’s spread.
The crackdown will have an impact far beyond Italy, other European governments warned. The Louvre museum in Paris closed on Sunday as staff sought clarity on a government edict to ban indoor gatherings of more than 5,000 people.
“A correction of the economic forecast can be expected,” Eric Scheidegger, head of the economic policy directorate at Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, told reporters on Saturday. The scope of the impact isn’t yet clear, he said.
The virus’s arrival in Italy, where the first death was reported on Feb. 21, coincided with high-profile international events such as Fashion Week as well as the peak of the winter vacation season. Families from across Europe flew through Venice and Milan to Italian ski resorts, and many of the cases being reported in other European countries now are linked to visits to Italy.
The first cases emerged on Saturday in the German banking center of Frankfurt. Three men were infected, with two of the cases traced to other infected Germans and a third linked to a trip to Italy.
Germany can’t rule out sealing off entire regions or cities, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview. “This scenario would be the last resort,” he said.
Globally, more than than 87,000 people have been infected with the virus, more than 2,000 of them in Europe. The window to contain the outbreak is narrowing, the World Health Organization warned.
Shortly before the first coronavirus death in the U.S. was reported on Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control recommended against traveling to parts of Italy. On Sunday, the U.S. State Department upgraded its advisory for the regions that include Milan and Venice to “do not travel.”
In the U.K., authorities are prepared to quarantine entire cities if need be, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a BBC interview. “There’s clearly a huge economic and social downside to that, but we don’t take anything off the table at this stage,” Hancock said.
American Airlines Group Inc. is suspending flights to and from Milan until April 25 due to a reduction in demand, the carrier said in a statement late Saturday. Delta also suspended flights to Milan after the after the U.S.’s stronger warnings.
The German automotive industry cut its expectations on both demand and exports last month, according to an Ifo Institute survey. Carmakers foresaw reductions in personnel planning in particular, the survey showed.
In France and Switzerland, meanwhile, authorities called for a stop to the traditional practice of greeting friends with a kiss -- or in the case of the Swiss, three kisses -- on the cheek.
“The reduction in social contacts of a physical nature is advised,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said at a news briefing on Saturday.
--With assistance from Lucy Meakin.
To contact the reporters on this story: Naomi Kresge in Berlin at nkresge@bloomberg.net;Vernon Silver in Rome at vtsilver@bloomberg.net;David Verbeek in Frankfurt at dverbeek1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Andrew Davis, Ian Fisher
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