Wednesday Morning Briefing: British supermarkets impose limits as panic buying spreads

Coronavirus

Shelf-stripping

Ice cream and chocolate Easter eggs anyone? That is all that remains on some UK supermarket aisles as panic-buying escalates. That has prompted two big chains, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, to impose restrictions on certain items: Tesco for example is limiting purchases to just two packs of things like dried pasta, toilet roll and long life milk.

Aldi meanwhile introduced outright rationing, limiting customers to buying four items of any one product during each visit. The paradox is that the stores say they have enough food coming into the system - suggesting that supplies would be fine if the panic-buyers just eased off.

$1,000 in your pocket

As the coronavirus threatens to push the global economy into recession, the administration of President Donald Trump is rolling out an unusual idea: handing out free money.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin proposed on Tuesday mailing out checks of up to $1,000 to American adults to quickly pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, similar to the playbook deployed through the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.

Economists say it could be one of the most effective measures to blunt the impact of the virus on the economy. Any such programme would need Congressional approval.

The spread

There are almost 200,000 cases of coronavirus across 164 countries and territories, a Reuters tally at 0200 GMT on Wednesday showed.

Outside China, two-thirds of all cases and three-quarters of all deaths are in Europe. The number of cases in Europe, over 77,000, is now approaching China’s total of 81,054 cases. Europe has recorded more than 3,800 deaths, around 600 more than China.

In Italy, there was a dramatic rise in the number of deaths, with a further 783 recorded in the past 24 hours. That brings the official mortality rate there close to 10%. In the absence of a compelling explanation, some experts put it down to the denominator - that is, it looks high as a ratio because the number of overall infections is being under-estimated.

Crystal clear

The pandemic lock-down is meanwhile having some unexpected side effects in Italy. Venice canals, usually bogged down with tourists in gondolas and motorboats are now crystal clear. Those that venture out into the city and peer down into the water may even see little silver fish swimming around.

Olympics make no sense if athletes can’t come.

Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said holding the Tokyo Olympics “would not make sense” if countries could not send their athletes. He spoke in parliament on Wednesday as a plane took off from Haneda airport to fly to Athens to collect the Olympic flame.

Athletes are growing increasingly anxious about whether the Games will go ahead or not as scheduled. Reigning Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi said she wanted to know what the Plan B was for staging the event.

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World

China defended its decision to expel American journalists from three U.S. newspapers and bar them even from working in Hong Kong, saying the measure falls within the central government’s purview over diplomatic affairs. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang also warned that China would be compelled to take further action against American media and journalists in China if the United States did not “correct its mistakes”.

President Hassan Rouhani said Iran has responded, and will respond, to America’s assassination of Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guards commander killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January. Rouhani was speaking following a Cabinet meeting that was broadcast on state television. Soleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, was instrumental in expanding Iran’s military influence in the Middle East

Officers from China’s top internal security force - the People’s Armed Police – joined Hong Kong police on the frontlines to observe anti-government protests that peaked last year, according to a senior foreign diplomat and an opposition politician. Hong Kong police took PAP officers to monitor the protesters and their tactics as part of a wider effort by the paramilitary force to deepen its understanding of the Hong Kong situation, they said.

Britain’s Glastonbury Festival, the largest greenfield music festival in the world, has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, organisers said on Wednesday. Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift were among those due to play Glastonbury in its 50th anniversary year in June.

Business

Futures slide again as stimulus high fades

U.S. stock index futures tumbled, pointing to another volatile session for Wall Street on fears that even dramatic stimulus measures would not be able to avert a deep coronavirus-driven recession.

2 min read

Governments offer aid as airlines forced to deepen cuts to flights, staffing

Australia and Taiwan joined governments offering financial aid to airlines as coronavirus and stricter travel controls forced carriers to deepen cuts to capacity and staffing. U.S. airlines have asked Washington for $50 billion in grants and loans, plus tens of billions in tax relief. Sector executives are due to speak with President Trump.

5 min read

Unions urge Airbus to extend output freeze due to virus fears

French unions are urging Airbus to keep its French factories closed beyond March 23, when it plans to resume production after a four-day shutdown, raising questions over the knock-on impact on plants elsewhere in Europe.

3 min read

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