According to China’s National Health Commission, on February 16, confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose 2048 (comparing to 2009 on February 15), to 70548. Death tolls rose 105 (comparing to 142 a day ago) to 1770. Health officials said on Sunday that two days of decline in new confirmed cases affirmed the government’s effort in containing the outbreak. But data released today clearly disagree to the claim.
Outside of China, Japan is hardest hit with over 400 cases, mainly due to the numbers in Diamond Princess liner. Singapore (75 cases) and Hong Kong (57) follow. Death toll reached 5 with one new case in Taiwan over the weekend.
China’s central bank PBoC announced today to cut interest rate on its medium term loans to cushion the impact on the economy from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Rate of CNY 200B worth of one-year medium-term lending facility loans is lowered by 10bps to 3.15%. Also, CNY 100B of liquidity is injected to financial institution through reverse repos. Today’s move is believed to pave the way for a cut in the benchmark loan prime rate on Thursday.
