The Nikkei Asian Review is tracking the spread of the new coronavirus that originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Global cases have reached 2,626,321, according to the World Health Organization.
The worldwide death toll has hit 181,938.
To see how the disease has spread, click this interactive virus tracker:
Here are the latest developments (Tokyo time):
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Saturday, April 25
12:34 a.m. The Global Vaccines Summit is set for June 4 in the U.K., Foreign Minister Dominic Raab says, urging continued funding for Gavi, an international organization that supports child vaccinations.
12:37 a.m. Vietnam Airlines has restored flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by nearly a third as the country ends its nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
Friday, April 24
10:30 p.m. U.S. stocks open higher as the oil price recovers and some states move to ease restrictions on business and consumer activity.
9:15 p.m. Japan is working on a subsidy that would ensure furloughed employees at small companies — those in the service sector with up to five workers and manufacturers with up to 20 — receive nearly their full wages during the current state of emergency, according to a health ministry plan.
9:05 p.m. Indonesian President Joko Widodo asked parliament on Friday to delay debate on changes to labor laws that were part of a sweeping bill to remove red tape and increase foreign investment in the county.
The move came after unions last week threatened to hold mass rallies to block the bill in defiance of a ban on large gathering because of the coronavirus outbreak.
8:31 p.m. Municipal governments in Japan are criticizing pachinko parlors that have remained open despite requests to close down as the country tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
5:48 p.m. Indonesia reports 436 new cases for the last 24 hours, a new daily high, bringing the total to 8,211, with 689 deaths.
4:55 p.m. Singapore registers 897 new infections, down from Thursday’s 1,037 but still too many for a tiny island of 5.7 million people waiting for a sign that the viral outbreak is coming under control. Its total cases now stand at 12,075. The vast majority of new cases are among quarantined migrant workers residing in crowded dormitories, the health ministry says.
Singapore’s quarantined migrant workers face a crisis in their crowded dormitories as they continue to take the brunt of the state’s coronavirus outbreak.
© Reuters
4:10 p.m. British retail sales fell by the most on record in March as a surge in food buying for the coronavirus lockdown was dwarfed by a plunge in sales of clothing and most other goods, official figures show. Sales volumes plunged 5.1% in March from February, the sharpest drop since the Office for National Statistics began keeping records in 1996.
4:00 p.m. Tokyo confirms 161 new cases, sources tell Nikkei, up from 134 on Thursday. The governments of Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa have asked companies to let employees take 12 straight days off during the upcoming Golden Week vacation period.
3:20 p.m. Sharp will resume operations at its TV factory in Malaysia on Saturday — but with half the number of staff. The restart of the plant in the southern state of Johor that has been closed since mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, will help stabilize exports to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries.
2:30 p.m. Australia will make it illegal for officials not in health care to access data collected to trace the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday. The government has said social distancing measures will remain in place until at least mid-May. Moves to ease restrictions will depend on whether people download a smartphone app that identifies those with whom ill people have had contact.
1:50 p.m. India confirms 1,684 new coronavirus cases, up from the 1,409 reported on Thursday morning and marking its biggest 24-hour spike. The nationwide total has reached 23,077, with 718 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
12:23 p.m. Indonesia backtracks and allows existing international flights to operate. In another reversal, all domestic flights will also be able to operate on Friday as the country begins Ramadan, but will halt on Saturday.
11:30 a.m. Up to 91 crew members of an Italian cruise ship docked in Nagasaki, Japan have tested positive for the virus, with authorities scrambling to test another 290 of the 623-member crew. The high infection rate has raised concerns about a potential strain on medical services.
10:16 a.m. South Korea reports six new cases, the lowest number since the high in late February, bringing the country total to 10,708 with 240 deaths.
10:00 a.m. The U.S. questions a report that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seriously ill, but declines to say if officials there had been contacted. “I think the report was incorrect,” President Donald Trump said, adding that he had heard it was based on “old documents.”
A woman wears a protective mask as she goes to market during an enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Manila.
© AP
9:37 a.m. President Rodrigo Duterte extends the lockdown of large parts of the Philippines, including Metropolitan Manila and nearby areas, until May 15. But community quarantine measures will be eased in provinces with low rates of coronavirus infections. In these areas, “Non-leisure” shops in malls can open while public transport services can operate at “reduced capacity” starting May 1.
8:00 a.m. Japan recognizes its over-reliance on China for key products, says Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, as the country earmarks 240 billion yen ($2.2 billion) to assist domestic companies in moving production home or into Southeast Asia.
7:00 a.m. U.S. drugmaker Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir fails to help patients with severe COVID-19 in a clinical trial performed in China. The company says the findings are inconclusive, since they were ended early.
6:30 a.m. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reports 828,441 cases of the new coronavirus as of April 22, an increase of 25,858 from its previous count, and says the number of deaths had risen by 1,804 to 46,379.
5:40 a.m. Turkey announces that COVID-19 cases surpassed the 100,000 mark by reaching 101,790, while 2,491 people have died so far. It now has the most cases in the Middle East.
5:00 a.m. U.S. stocks close with mixed results, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.17% while the S&P 500 slipped 0.05%.
4:30 a.m. California reports its biggest one-day death told from COVID-19 — 115 victims, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
3:03 a.m. More than 21% of New York City residents tested for coronavirus antibodies were positive, says New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
2:27 a.m. With Japan’s approach to coronavirus testing unable to keep up with the outbreak’s spread, patients and doctors have had to wait longer for results, underscoring the need for private-sector help.
12:30 a.m. Over 4 million Americans applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week, bringing total jobless claims since coronavirus lockdowns began to 26 million, Department of Labor figures show.
Thursday, April 23
11:28 p.m. Indonesia will suspend all commercial passenger flights — domestic and international — from Thursday to June 1. Among the flights that will still be allowed are repatriation flights, as well those for state representatives.
Travelers line up for temperature checks at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta, Indonesia.
© Reuters
11:24 p.m. Japan confirms 428 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 12,260.
10:30 p.m. U.S. stocks open to the upside, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.3% and the S&P 500 advancing 0.4%.
9:57 p.m. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announces an extension of a nationwide lockdown for two weeks until May 12, and signals the possibility of further extending it until the end of May to prevent Malay Muslims traveling during the Eid festival next month.
9:46 p.m. India freezes until July next year the bi-annual inflation-linked rise in salaries and pensions — the so-called dearness allowance — of its 11.3 million central government employees and retired workers, citing the coronavirus outbreak.
8:46 p.m. Japanese trading house Itochu says it will recall masks after reports of defects in some distributed by Japan’s government. Tokyo has enslited three suppliers, and it is unclear if the defective masks were provided by Itochu.
8:21 p.m. The cease-fire in the Yemeni civil war ends today and has not been extended, according to Peter Salisbury, a Yemen analyst. A two-week cease-fire was declared April 9 due to the pandemic, though it was violated 114 times, according to Saudi media reports.
7:33 p.m. The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that the country’s gross domestic product expansion will be “the lowest in many decades” for the financial year ending in March 2021, ranging between a contraction of 0.9% and growth of 1.5%.
6:54 p.m. The Philippines reports 271 new infections after confirming 111 on Wednesday, bringing its total to 6,981, with 462 deaths.
6:37 p.m. Air pollution over India’s north has dropped significantly amid a nationwide lockdown, with aerosol levels at a 20-year low for this time of year, NASA satellite data shows. Aerosols are tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in the air that can damage hearts and lungs.
6:03 p.m. Thailand reports 13 new cases, down from 15 on Wednesday. Its total confirmed cases rise to 2,839, with 50 fatalities.
5:55 p.m. Indonesia reports 357 new cases, down from 375 on Wednesday and bringing the nation’s total to 7,775, with 647 deaths. A government prohibition on traveling to hometowns during Ramadan is set to take effect at midnight. Under the ban, passenger vehicles will not be allowed into or out of Greater Jakarta until May 31. Similar bans on rail, air and sea links will remain in place until June.
4:30 p.m. Thailand’s car production in March fell 26% year on year to 146,812 units as some factories suspended operations to contain the spread of the virus, according to the Federation of Thai Industries. It was the biggest single-month drop since August 2014, a few months after a military coup.
3:45 p.m. The governments of Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa have asked companies to let employees take 12 straight days off during the Golden Week, from April 25 through May 6, to cut down on the number of commuters and thereby help to contain the spread of the virus.
3:22 p.m. Tokyo confirms 134 new cases, sources tell Nikkei. It confirmed 132 on Wednesday and 123 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, another 14 crew members on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs in Nagasaki have tested positive for the virus, taking the ship’s total to 48. Japan plans to decide during the upcoming Golden Week holidays whether to extend the country’s state of emergency beyond May 6.
2:40 p.m. South Korea’s Hyundai Motor says its first-quarter net profit slumped 44% to its lowest level for the quarter in a decade due to the pandemic. Net profit for January-March was 463 billion won ($376 million), far below an average Refinitiv estimate of 607 billion won drawn from 15 analysts.
2:30 p.m. Thai Airways International is dangerously close to becoming the world’s first national flag carrier to go bust amid the coronavirus pandemic, with only days left to maneuver out of its latest financial straits. Down to its last 10 billion baht ($307 million), according to local reports, which is enough to pay its employees for one month, the airline is in talks with the Thai government regarding a bailout.
1:31 p.m. India reports 1,409 new cases, up from 1,383 on Wednesday morning, bringing the country total to 21,393. The death toll rose to 681, up 41 over the last 24 hours.
1:10 p.m. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that the coronavirus could give some countries an excuse to adopt repressive measures for reasons unrelated to the pandemic as he warned that the outbreak risks becoming a human rights crisis.
12:34 p.m. Jakarta extends social distancing measures scheduled to end Friday to May 22. Gov. Anies Baswedan said authorities will take firm action against companies that violate the rules, with the exception of 11 sectors, including health care, food and banking.
11:24 a.m. South Korea records eight more cases, keeping the number of new infections under 20 per day for six days in a row. It has confirmed 10,702 cases and 240 deaths.
11:00 a.m. Two cats in New York are the first pets in the U.S. to test positive for the new coronavirus, but there is no evidence pets can spread the virus to humans, according to the U.S. health authorities. It is believed the cats contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods. “Animals, pets, can get infected. … There’s no evidence that the virus is transmitted from the pet to a human,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
10:10 a.m. Australia has called on G-20 nations to close wet wildlife markets over concerns that they threaten human health and agricultural markets. The pandemic is thought to have started in a wet market in Wuhan. China imposed a temporary ban on selling wildlife on Jan. 23, although not all wet markets sell wildlife. “There are risks with wildlife wet markets and they could be as big a risk to our agricultural industries, as they can be to public health,” said David Littleproud, Australia’s agriculture minister.
8:30 a.m. U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to temporarily block some foreign nationals from obtaining from permanent residency, saying he wanted to protect American workers and jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. “This will ensure that unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy reopens,” he said. The order will be in effect for 60 days, after which it will come up for review.
8:00 a.m. South Korea’s economy contracted 1.4% in the first three months of 2020 from the previous quarter, marking the biggest drop since 2008 as the coronavirus pandemic battered the export-driven country.
5:00 a.m. U.S. stocks recover as oil prices regain calm after days of turbulence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbs 450 points, or 1.9%, and the S&P 500 rises 2.2%.
3:50 a.m. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticizes Beijing again, accusing it of failing to report the coronavirus outbreak in a timely manner, and taking advantage of the pandemic to bully neighbors such as Taiwan and countries in the South China Sea. Even after Beijing notified the World Health Organization of the outbreak, Pompeo said, “It did not share all of the information it had. Instead it covered up how dangerous the disease is.”
2:00 a.m. Toyota Motor will cut May’s domestic automobile production by roughly half from its March-end plan, as the spread of the novel coronavirus depresses demand for new cars around the world.
1:50 a.m. Germany approves human trials for a potential coronavirus vaccine by startup BioNTech, aiming to have a certified vaccine mass-produced in less than a year. Oxford University of the U.K. also will launch human trials for a vaccine candidate Thursday.
1:15 a.m. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, will help New York, Connecticut and New Jersey devise a tri-state program to trace the contacts of people with the novel coronavirus.
Wednesday, April 22
11:20 p.m. India suspends testing for antibodies to the coronavirus because of concern over the accuracy. The country has ordered more than 500 million testing kits from China.
10:30 p.m. U.S. stocks rebound on positive earnings news, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average opens with a gain of over 400 points, or 1.8%
A girl and her mother wearing protective masks walk in a public square during the coronavirus disease outbreak in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on April 12.
© Reuters
9:40 p.m. Vietnam decides to lift social distancing measures nationwide, effective Thursday, except for some districts in Hanoi. It will be up to local leaders to decide on reopening nonessential businesses. The country’s total count of virus cases remains at 268 — unchanged in six days — with 222 patients discharged.
8:00 p.m. The Indian government announces stricter rules to protect doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, insisting it has “zero tolerance” for violence against them. Individuals found guilty of abusing medical workers will face possible jail time of up to seven years and a fine of up to 500,000 rupees ($6,516), Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar tells reporters.
7:55 p.m. The Philippines’ latest numbers are in: 111 new infections, lower than Tuesday’s 140. The country has recorded 6,710 total cases with 446 deaths.
7:20 p.m. Indonesia reports 283 new cases, lower than Tuesday’s 375. This brings the total to 7,418 with 635 deaths.
6:45 p.m. The Indian Medical Association calls off a protest against violence faced by health care workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic, after Home Minister Amit Shah assures them the government will look out for their well-being. The safety and dignity of doctors “is non-negotiable,” Shah tweets after a video conference with IMA representatives. The workers had planned to light candles in a show of unity against reports of physical and verbal abuse.
4:27 p.m. Thailand reports 15 new confirmed cases, down from the 19 it reported on Tuesday. Total confirmed cases now stand at 2,826. The country has suffered 49 deaths.
A doctor in protective gear prepares to test a girl for the coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India.
© Reuters
3:38 p.m. Japan Airlines says consolidated net profit for the year ending March 31 was down 65% from the previous fiscal year, at 53 billion yen. JAL had forecast a 38% fall. Passenger demand was decimated by the spread of the new coronavirus.
2:39 p.m. The government of Pakistan has ordered the resumption of all infrastructure and energy projects that are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but experts believe the move is a matter of face-saving.
1:41 p.m. India confirms 1,383 new coronavirus cases, up from 1,336 reported Tuesday morning, bringing the total to 19,984. The number of deaths jumped to 640, an increase of 50 in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
12:17 p.m. Ube Industries announces it will begin making intermediate chemicals for the influenza drug Avigan, which is seen as a promising treatment for the new coronavirus. Production will begin in July at a pharmaceutical plant in Ube, in western Japan. In 2009, the factory made intermediate chemicals for Avigan. Ube’s decision to restart production follows a request from Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, the developer of the drug.
11:43 a.m. Canon partially closes two offices in Ibaraki and Shizuoka prefectures in line with Japan’s expanded national emergency declaration.
11:16 a.m. Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture reports 33 new cases on the Italian cruise ship Costa Atlantica, currently docked for repairs. One case was reported yesterday. The ship is carrying 623 crew members and no passengers, according to media reports.
11:02 a.m. The Dutch Football Association announces the cancellation of its remaining league matches, which had already been suspended, after the government extended a ban on large gatherings until Sept. 1, due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
10:23 a.m. South Korea reports 11 new cases, as the number stays below 20 for the fifth consecutive day. This brings the country total to 10,694 with 238 deaths.
10:05 a.m. Netflix reports a record spike in subscriptions in the first quarter of this year, with 15.8 million new users signing up for its paid membership. The U.S. streaming service provider attributes the uptick partly to the coronavirus pandemic.
10:03 a.m. China reports 30 new coronavirus cases, up from 11 a day earlier, bringing the country total to 82,788 with 4,632 deaths.
9:07 a.m. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index falls below 19,000 yen for the first time in two weeks, following U.S. markets and sliding crude oil futures.
9:00 a.m. Nissan Motor expects global sales to stay flat at 5 million vehicles through fiscal 2022, Nikkei has learned, as the coronavirus dashes the automaker’s hopes of regaining momentum in the key North American market.
8:41 a.m. A Johns Hopkins University survey shows the number of cases exceeds 2.5 million worldwide. The U.S. has the most at 810,000, followed by Spain with 200,000 and Italy with 180,000. Iran, with 85,000 cases, is one of eight countries with more infections than China, which has 84,000. The global death toll has topped 175,000.
A member of a medical team stands at the airport after travel restrictions are lifted for Wuhan, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus outbreak.
© Reuters
7:59 a.m. Consumer products maker Iris Ohyama is set to become the first Japanese company to receive a government subsidy to shift production out of China as part of efforts to build more resilient supply chains. The company plans to produce 150 million face masks a month by August.
7:10 a.m. The U.S. Senate passes a $484 billion bill to mitigate the health and economic impact of the coronavirus. The package includes $75 billion for hospitals, $25 billion to expand testing, as well as an additional $310 billion in loans to support small businesses to follow on the first $350 billion, which has since ran out.
5:00 a.m. U.S. stocks sell off again, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.7% and the S&P 500 down 3.1%
3:47 a.m. In India, part of the president’s estate has been declared under quarantine after a family member of a presidential secretariat employee was found to have come in contact with a COVID-19 victim.
3:23 a.m. Missouri becomes the first U.S. state to file a lawsuit against the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, saying that China’s response resulted in economic losses, Reuters reports.
2:15 a.m. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will be tested for coronavirus after coming into contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19, Reuters reports.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum on January 22 in Davos, Switzerland.
© Reuters
2:12 a.m. Japan will decide during the upcoming Golden Week holidays whether to extend the country’s state of emergency beyond May 6.
1:27 a.m. U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the White House as the hard-hit state seeks a road to recovery via extensive antibody testing.
Tuesday, April 21
11:00 p.m. American opinion toward China and its leadership has hit a historic low as the two countries wrestle to shape the coronavirus narrative, new data from the Pew Research Center shows.
10:46 p.m. Japan confirms 388 new cases of COVID-19 as of 10 p.m., bringing the total to 11,383.
10:30 p.m. U.S. stocks fall at the open, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 2.1% as near-term U.S. crude oil futures remain in negative territory.
8:35 p.m. Vietnam recorded no new COVID-19 cases for the 6th day, the English-language Vietnam News reports. The civil aviation authority is reportedly seeking government approval to resume all domestic routes from Thursday. Vietnam has reported a total of 268 cases of infection so far.
8:20 p.m. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha wrote to the kingdom’s multibillionaires, asking them to help those affected by the coronavirus pandemic through assistance projects, but added he would not encourage cash donations, the English-language daily Bangkok Post reported.
7:30 p.m. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the city state would extend a partial lockdown until June 1 to curb a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the country.
7:25 p.m. Thailand reported 19 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing its total to 2,811 with 48 fatalities.
6:10 p.m. Taiwan central bank Governor Yang Chin-long said the government was planning to double financing for small- and medium-sized companies to $13 billion to help them cope with the impact of the conoravirus, Reuters reported.
6:08 p.m. Philippines reported 140 new infections on Tuesday, down from the 200 it recorded on Monday, bringing the total to 6,599 with 437 deaths.
5:53 p.m. Indonesia said that new cases of coronavirus roughly doubled to 375 on Tuesday from Monday, bringing the total to 7,135 with 616 deaths.
Indonesian Muslims perform morning prayers to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, near Ampera bridge in Palembang, South Sumatra province, Indonesia in 2019.
© Reuters
4:37 p.m.: Singapore confirms 1,111 new cases, with the vast majority foreign workers residing in densely packed dormitories. Total cases stand at 9,125.
4:00 p.m. Italy will announce before the end of this week plans for a gradual reopening starting May 4 from the lockdown imposed to fight the coronavirus emergency, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday. The lockdown, which has closed most Italian businesses and prevented people from leaving their homes for all but essential needs, has been in place since March 9.
2:30 p.m. Indonesia will ban the Ramadan mass exodus tradition in May to help curb the spread of coronavirus. “I have made the decision to ban mudik,” President Joko Widodo said, referring to the practice observed at the end of the fasting month.The mudik ban will come into effect on Friday and apply to Jakarta and satellite cities. Passenger vehicles will not be allowed into and out of greater Jakarta areas except for essential work.
2:00 p.m. U.S. President Donald Trump will suspend immigration to protect jobs. “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States,” Trump tweeted.
1:51 p.m. India reports 1,336 new cases, down from 1,553 on Monday morning, bringing the country total to 18,601 with 590 deaths.
12:23 p.m. Hong Kong’s social distancing rules are set to be extended for another 14 days to May 7 despite a significant drop in new coronavirus cases in recent days. Hong Kong has banned gatherings of more than four people since early April.
11:30 a.m. Nissan Motor says it will suspend operations at its global headquarters in Yokohama and at other facilities in Japan from April 27 through May 1 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The shutdown will affect a total of 15,000 employees, the company said, while employees at its factories will continue essential work, with health and safety measures in place.
10:20 a.m. South Korea confirms nine new cases, the fourth straight day it has reported fewer than 20 new infections. Its total reported cases reached 10,683, with 237 deaths.
9:32 a.m Yoshio Tateishi, a member of the founding family of Japanese electronics maker Omron, has died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 at a hospital in Kyoto. The 80-year-old was a former president of the company and had also served as head of the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
8:46 a.m. Virgin Australia Holdings says it entered voluntary administration to recapitalize due to the coronavirus crisis and high debt load. The airline said it could not secure a 1.4 billion Australian dollar ($887.6 million) government loan. Deloitte has been appointed as the administrator.
7:45 a.m. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will visit the White House on Tuesday to discuss coronavirus response. New York has been an epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.
5:00 a.m. U.S. stocks follow the oil price lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing 2.4% lower and the S&P 500 falling around 1.8%.
4:35 a.m. U.S. crude oil futures end the day at a stunning minus $37.63 a barrel. The May U.S. WTI contract fell $55.9, or 306%, after touching an all-time low of -$40.32 a barrel.
3:20 a.m. U.S. crude oil futures turn negative for the first time in history as storage space fills up.
2:55 a.m. South Korea and Taiwan have won praise and attention for fast and effective responses to the novel coronavirus that have so far allowed them to avoid the sort of damage seen elsewhere despite their proximity to the disease’s original epicenter.
1:24 a.m. Cash-strapped airline Virgin Australia is poised to enter voluntary administration, Reuters reports.
12:45 a.m. The World Health Organization plans to ship 180 million surgical masks to countries in April and May, Reuters quotes WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying.
12:41 a.m. Vietnam has used travel bans aggressively to curb the spread of the coronavirus, yet it has made exceptions for employees of Samsung Electronics, a key source of local jobs.
Monday, April 20
11:00 p.m. Nintendo seeks to raise output of the Switch video game device this year in response to a jump in demand from homebound consumers, Nikkei has learned.
10:49 p.m. Japan confirms 343 new COVID-19 cases as of 10 p.m., bringing the total to 10,995. According to Johns Hopkins Unviversity’s Coronavirus Resource Center, Japan now has more COVID-19 cases than South Korea.
10:30 p.m. U.S. stocks open sharply lower after a sharp drop in oil prices, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling around 1.9%
9:02 p.m. Fitch Ratings downgrades Hong Kong’s credit rating to “AA-” from “AA,” citing “a second major shock” to the economy in Covid-19, which has “compounded negative rating trends already in place from the reputational damage” brought on by social strife in 2019. Fitch last downgraded Hong Kong’s rating in September.
9:01 p.m. China slams as “discriminatory” India’s toughening of its foreign investment rules to prevent opportunistic takeovers of Indian companies by neighbors amid the economic fallout from the pandemic. The barriers set by New Delhi for “investors from specific countries … go against the general trend of liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment,” Ji Rong, the spokesperson of China’s embassy in India, says in a statement.
7:24 p.m. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is extending a ban on alcohol sales until April 30. The ban started on April 10 and was scheduled to end on Monday.
7:08 p.m. The Taiwanese government has sent mobile phone messages to around 200,000 people who may have come into contact with 24 navy sailors who had tested positive for COVID-19. The sailors had disembarked from one of Taiwan’s largest navy ships over the past few days after having been on a goodwill mission to the Pacific island state of Palau. The sailors had returned to 10 Taiwanese cities, a government official said, but all 700 or so have now been recalled to be tested and quarantined.
Taiwan has 422 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
6:51 p.m. Macao is expected to record its first budget deficit since its handover to Chinese rule in 1999, after earmarking 50 billion pataca ($6.26 billion) in COVID-19 relief measures, Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng said in his first policy address on Monday.
6:20 p.m. Data from today — the first Monday after Japan’s state of emergency was extended beyond Tokyo and six other prefectures — shows that the Japanese government is far from achieving its goal of reducing commuter numbers by 70%.
6:09 p.m. Indonesia reports 185 new cases and eight additional deaths — the lowest daily counts for the past two weeks — bringing its totals to 6,760 cases and 590 deaths.
5:58 p.m. The Philippines reports 200 new infections, higher than 172 yesterday, bringing the total to 6,459 with 428 deaths.
5:19 p.m. For the first time in nearly two months, Hong Kong records no new coronavirus infections, after maintaining single-digit confirmed cases for a week.
5:05 p.m. Thailand reports 27 new cases, the fewest daily reported cases since March 14. This brought total confirmed cases to 2,792 with 47 fatalities.
Migrant workers are pictured in their dormitory at a construction site, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore.
© Reuters
4:25 p.m. Singapore confirms a record 1,426 new cases, bringing its total to 8,014. The “vast majority” of the new infections are among migrant workers residing in dormitories, the health ministry says.
3:06 p.m. Japan’s ANA Holdings has revised down its earnings forecast for the year ended in March. The company now expects its net profit to have plunged by 76% from the same period a year ago, as the pandemic hit the airline hard in March.
2:10 p.m. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed “bilateral cooperation” in tackling the coronavirus crisis, Duterte’s spokesman told reporters.The 18-minute phone conversation, which was initiated by Washington, took place Sunday night, he said, declining to provide more details. Trump’s approach comes as Beijing is doubling down assistance for Manila to fight COVID-19 and takes place when Philippine-U.S. relations are at a crossroads after Duterte terminated a key military pact in February.
1:40 p.m. India confirms 1,553 more coronavirus cases, compared with 1,334 reported on Sunday morning, its biggest 24-hour spike so far. The total number of cases has climbed to 17,265, including 543 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
1:30 p.m. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that the country will extend the lockdown by a week, after which it will move to a lower level of restrictions. Ardern said the country will ease the current restrictions at the end of the day on April 27.
A doctor conducts a swab test on a man in a slum in Mumbai, India.
© Reuters
11:15 a.m. China’s central bank cuts its benchmark lending rate to prop up the economy amid the pandemic. The People’s Bank of China lowered the one-year loan prime rate to 3.8% from 4.05%.
9:20 a.m. Japanese exports fell 11.7% in the year through March as the pandemic weighed on overseas demand, government data shows. The plunge followed a 1% fall in February and marked the biggest decline since July 2016.
8:30 a.m. The U.S. death toll climbs to 40,665 with more than 759,000 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. New York City, the hardest hit region, has reported 14,451 deaths, accounting for about one-third of the country total.
6:20 a.m. Health ministers of G-20 countries hold a teleconference where they agree to share information to counter the pandemic. Participants pointed out the weakness of medical systems and admitted that preparations were not adequate. Representatives from the World Bank and WHO, which has been questioned over its response by U.S. President Donald Trump, also attended.
2:50 a.m. Italy reports 433 new deaths on Sunday, the lowest daily tally in a week, while the number of new cases slowed to 3,047 from 3,491 a day earlier. The death toll hit 482 on Saturday, down from 575 on Friday.
Sunday, April 19
11:50 p.m. Britain reports 596 new deaths as a senior minister said the testing target remained at 100,000 per day. Hospital deaths stood at 16,060 as of 1600 GMT on Saturday after the smallest daily rise since data was first published on April 6.
5:55 p.m. Indonesia reports 327 new cases, bringing the country total to 6,575. There were 47 new deaths, brining the total to 582.
5:50 p.m. India confirms 1,334 new cases, up from 991 on Saturday morning, bringing the country total to 15,712 with 507 deaths.
3:33 p.m. Taiwan reports 22 new cases, almost all navy sailors who had been on a goodwill mission to the Pacific island state of Palau in March.
1:43 p.m. Thailand reports 32 new cases, bringing the country total to 2,765 with 47 deaths.
11:11 a.m. China reports 16 new cases — the lowest number since March 17 and down from 27 a day earlier — bringing the country total to 82,735 with 4,632 deaths.
10:25 a.m. South Korea reports single digit cases for the first time in two months with eight new cases, bringing the country total to 10,661 with 234 deaths.
8:15 a.m. U.S. President Donald Trump warns China that it should face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the pandemic, as he ratcheted up criticism of Beijing over its handling of the outbreak.
Saturday, April 18
5:51 p.m. Indonesia reports 325 new cases, brining the country total to 6,248. There were 47 new deaths, bringing the total to 535.
5:07 p.m. Taiwan will quarantine 700 navy sailors after three cases were confirmed among sailors who had been on a goodwill mission to the Pacific island state of Palau.
5:00 p.m. The Philippines reports 209 new cases, down from 218 a day earlier, bringing the country total to 6,087 with 397 deaths.
4:35 p.m. Singapore reports 942 new cases, a daily record high, bringing the country total to 5,992.
4:09 p.m. Confirmed cases in Japan surpass 10,000, just days after a state of emergency was extended nationwide to slow the spread of the virus.
2:30 p.m. India reports 991 new cases, down from 1,007 reported on April 17, bringing the country total to 14,378 with 480 deaths.
12:10 p.m. China reports 27 new cases on April 17, up from 26 a day earlier.
To catch up on earlier developments, see last week’s latest updates.