LIVE – Coronavirus: French tour operators postpone all departures scheduled for March

The main information to remember

> The balance sheet of the epidemic rose to 167,369 cases of contamination and 6,503 deaths worldwide

> In France, calls for containment are increasing, as is a postponement of the second round of municipal elections

> Several American states have in turn decided the compulsory closure of bars and restaurants

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France, with 5,423 cases and 127 deaths, occupies the sixth place in this gloomy classification (ahead of Spain and before Germany) and has embarked on a race against the clock in order to stem the epidemic. And France is in stage 3 during the weekend, the last stage before confinement. A measure demanded by a growing number of officials. The French Minister for the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, did not exclude Sunday from new precautionary measures against the coronavirus epidemic.

Follow the events of this Monday, March 16:

> Municipal: Agnès Buzyn stops her campaign

The candidate invested by LREM for the municipal elections in Paris announced that she had decided to stop her campaign on Monday, considering that she can “only be a doctor” from now on, and calls on all of her party’s fellow members and activists to “stay at home” .

“She stops her campaign, that does not mean that she withdraws her candidacy,” had advanced earlier her campaign director, Paul Midy, words quickly nuanced by the candidate. “In the coming weeks, I can only be a doctor,” insisted Agnès Buzyn, sweeping the question of municipal officials.

> In Spain, almost 1,000 additional cases in 24 hours

The number of confirmed cases has risen to 8,744, said Fernando Simon, head of the national health alert center. This growth in the number of cases however indicates a slowdown since 2,000 new cases were detected between Saturday and Sunday.

The number of deaths, him, passed from 288 Sunday to 297 Monday, according to the new assessment published by the authorities.

> Arianespace suspends its launches

The decision, which concerns the Guyana Space Center in Kourou, has been taken until further notice. “This exceptional measure aims to preserve the health of employees and local populations, while ensuring the safety conditions required for the preparation of planned launches,” said the company.

> French tour operators postpone all departures for the month

All organized trips are postponed beyond March 31, but requests for early returns are treated on a case-by-case basis, industry professionals said. This decision was taken “in front of the impossibility of ensuring the services at destination and the uncertainty of the returns”, indicate in a joint press release the Seto (syndicate of tour operators) and the Travel Companies (travel agencies).

> Emmanuel Macron will speak at 8 p.m.

The head of state will speak on television at 8 p.m. from his Elysée office, the presidency said. He is expected to announce the measures to be decided at a lunch with members of the Defense Council this afternoon.

Possible containment measures are mentioned, while the second round of municipal elections is more than ever pending.

> Renault ready to adapt

The manufacturer is working on several scenarios to operate its factories despite a high rate of absenteeism. Among these scenarios are a decrease in rates, a reduction in the number of teams or a greater use of temporary workers, said the spokeswoman.

To date, the French factories of the diamond group are continuing their activity as planned, with the exception of the Flins site (Yvelines), which has been shutdown due to a lack of supply from a European supplier who is not related to coronavirus.

> Michelin closes its factories

The tire manufacturer will close the doors of its factories in France, Italy and Spain from Tuesday and for a week. It is a question of respecting “the hygiene and containment measures put in place in these countries,” said the group’s spokesperson.

“Depending on the development of the situation, this cessation of activity may be extended and possibly extended to the other factories of the Michelin group in Europe,” said a press release.

> ADP fears a significant impact

The Aéroports de Paris group could suffer a drop in operating profit (Ebitda) to the tune of 190 million euros, he announced Monday. ADP, hit hard by the drop in air traffic, is also preparing a savings plan. This includes the closure of infrastructures in Paris and abroad in the coming days to “concentrate activity on certain terminals” and “reduce operating costs”.

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> Pompidou’s emergency chief “sees the wave coming”

The coronavirus epidemic is causing “an influx of patients” in hospitals, where certain resuscitation services “are already overwhelmed,” according to Professor Philippe Juvin, chief of emergency at the Paris hospital. “Some are completely overwhelmed, others are loading, but we see the wave coming,” said the practitioner on LCI.

In the Haut-Rhin, where the epidemic has spread earlier than elsewhere, “resuscitation capacities are exceeded” in Mulhouse, while Colmar hospital suffers from “equipment shortages”, he said. he affirmed, recommending a containment of the population.

> No food shortage in France

“There will be no problem with the supply of food,” repeated Minister of Agriculture Guillaume, in line with remarks made by Bruno Le Maire. The day before, the Minister of Economy had called on the French to behave “responsibly” without “rushing to the shelves”.

> The unemployment benefit reform postponed to September 1

Because of the “exceptional situation” in which France finds itself, “the rules which were to change on April 1 no longer change on April 1 and are postponed to September 1,” said Monday Muriel Pénicaud, Minister of Labor on BFMTV and RMC. Among the aspects of the reform that were supposed to take effect on April 1 is a controversial new unemployment benefit rule.

The Minister also announced the establishment of a “similar system to partial unemployment” for people employed at home (childminders, cleaning women …). They will receive 80% of their salary from the employer, which will be reimbursed by Cesu.

> Air France plans to reduce its offer by “70 to 90%” for two months

The aeronautical group explains that it will have to gradually reduce its activity significantly over the next few months. due to this reduction in capacity Air France-KLM will immobilize its entire Airbus 380 and Boeing 747 fleet.

The group also anticipates a significantly deteriorated financial trajectory compared to the prospects presented on the occasion of the publication of its annual results.

> European stock markets collapse at the opening

The new surprise cut in Fed rates and the announcement of concerted action by central banks were not enough to reassure investors. The Madrid Stock Exchange fell more than 8% at the opening.

At the opening, the CAC 40 lost 5.62% while the Dax plunged below 9,000 points for the first time since 2016 (-5.04). The London Stock Exchange also lost 4.77% and that of Milan fell 6%.

> Italy demands “European coordination”

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called for “European coordination” in the areas of health and the economy to confront the coronavirus, warning that his country had not “yet reached the peak” of contagions.

An extraordinary G7 summit will be held this Monday by videoconference to coordinate the fight against the coronavirus. Giuseppe Conte believes that Italy can offer “a significant contribution” as the first European country to have been confronted with the coronavirus.

> Thierry Breton expects a recession in the European Union

The European Commissioner for the internal market said he anticipated a recession “in the year 2020” and “for the whole of the Union”. “Before the crisis, we were around 1.4% (growth in gross domestic product -PIB-NDLR) across the continent and there we think we will have an impact (negative Editor’s note) between 2% and 2.5% ”he explained on BFM Business.

> Emmanuel Macron is having a lunch “in Defense Council format” this noon

This lunch should bring together Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the European Council Charles Michel, and the Presidency of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen.

This meeting will focus on the issue of borders when Germany decided yesterday to close its doors in the face of the spread of the new coronavirus.

> The progression of the epidemic is “very worrying”, according to the Director General of Health

“The situation is deteriorating very quickly, the number of cases now doubles every three days,” alerted Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, worrying also about a possible “saturation” of hospitals.

“I would especially like our fellow citizens to realize that there are people who are sick, in intensive care, and whose life prognosis is committed, and these people number in the hundreds”, he insisted, on France Inter.

> The Tokyo Stock Exchange ends down sharply

At the end of a jagged and uncertain session until the last moment, the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed on Monday in sharp decline, despite measures announced urgently by the Bank of Japan facing the impact of the coronavirus.

The star Nikkei index lost 2.46% to 17,002.04 points at the close. It had already sunk by 6% last Friday, and abandoned 16% over the whole of the past week.

> Australia: the stock market plunges at the close

The Australian Stock Exchange recorded a record fall of 9.7% on Monday. The ASX 200 index closed on a plunge of 537.30 points to 5,002.00 points.

The industrial and energy sectors are the most affected, they both recorded losses of more than 15%.

> Japan has identified 15 sources of contamination

The largest outbreak in Japan is in the Osaka region, with 50 infections linked to a concert hall.

An outbreak of contamination of more than 10 people has also been identified in the capital Tokyo. In total, some 1,400 cases of coronavirus contamination have been confirmed in Japan.

> In the United States, several states close bars and restaurants

In the United States, where there are to date 3,689 cases of infections and 68 deaths, decisions aimed at trying to limit the spread of the virus are accelerating. While Donald Trump has banned the arrival of European travelers on his soil and his way of handling the crisis is criticized by Democrats , several American states or cities are implementing restrictive measures.

New York City, which announced the school closings on Sunday, made the same decision for bars and restaurants. Only establishments offering take-away meals can continue their activity. The states of California, Ohio, Illinois, Massachussets and that of Washington have also decided on similar measures. In Massachussets, public gatherings of more than 25 people are prohibited.

> Jack Ma joins Twitter and makes a first move for the United States

The co-founder and ex-boss of Alibaba seems determined to take his part in the fight against the coronavirus in the United States. After creating his account on the social network Twitter on Friday, he announced on Monday morning that he would donate 500,000 detection kits and a million protective masks.

This medical equipment flies from China. “The first shipment of coronavirus masks and test kits to the United States takes off from Shanghai. My best wishes to our friends in America, ”he wrote, supporting photos.