Life in an Epidemic | A worker installs plastic film to separate the front seats from the back, inside a vehicle for a car-hailing service in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China. (Image:Reuters)
IBM Won’t Take Part in Conference | International Business Machines Corp on Friday said it had cancelled its participation in the RSA cyber security conference due to coronavirus-related concerns, Reuters reported. The event is scheduled to take place on February 24 to 28 in San Francisco.
The health of IBMers is our primary concern as we continue to monitor upcoming events and travel relative to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are cancelling our participation in this year’s RSA conference.
— IBM Security (@IBMSecurity)February 14, 2020
US to Evacuate Americans Stuck on Japan Ship | The US State Department will evacuate American citizens and their families aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, that has been quarantined in a Japanese port for nearly two weeks as many passengers are infected with the novel coronavirus, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. About 380 people will be offered seats on two evacuation flights from Japan back to the United States, stated a Reuters report.
Official Says Virus Could Affect US GDP | White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday the coronavirus outbreak in China could “maybe” knock two- to three-tenths of a percent off US GDP in the first quarter, reported Reuters. “We’re thinking maybe in the first quarter we lose…two or three tenths of one percent of GDP,” the National Economic Council director said in an interview on Fox Business Network.
Trump Thanks Cambodia for Taking Westerdam | US President Donald Trump has thanked Cambodia for taking in the castaway cruise ship MS Westerdam in a rare message to a country that is one of China’s closest allies and has often been at odds with Washington. Five countries turned away the Westerdam, worried its passengers could be carrying the coronavirus despite it having no known cases before Cambodia’s authoritarian prime minister, Hun Sen, agreed the passengers could disembark there.
Thank you to the beautiful country of Cambodia for accepting the @CarnivalCruise ship Westerdam into your port. The United States will remember your courtesy! @MickyArison
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)February 14, 2020
Death Toll Reaches 1,523 | Death toll in China’s coronavirus has gone up to 1,523 with 143 new fatalities reported from all over the country, Chinese health officials said on Saturday. Among the deaths, 139 were in Hubei Province, two in Henan and one in Beijing and Chongqing respectively, the National Health Commission said.
Source: News18