Wall St.Journal 27Feb2020

A6| Thursday, February 27, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Carabinieri police at a checkpoint in northern Italy, top, and

guests at H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Adeje, on the Spanish island

of Tenerife, wore face masks in a bid to thwart the coronavirus.

FROM TOP: YARA NARDI/REUTERS; BORJA SUAREZ/REUTERS

on Wednesday.

“It is a little stricter and

tougher than what is typical

for Europe,” he said.

By Wednesday, more than

400 people in Italy had con-

tracted the virus, of whom 12

had died, all of them elderly

people with existing health

conditions. Nine of the dead

were in Lombardy, the region

around Milan where three-

quarters of the infections have

occurred. In Lombardy, six mi-

nors also tested positive, ac-

cording to a regional official.

The Italian outbreak contin-

ued to expand beyond the

WORLD NEWS

country’s borders. On Wednes-

day, the Greek Ministry of

Health said a 38-year-old

woman from Thessaloniki who

had traveled to northern Italy

recently has the virus.

Meanwhile, officials quaran-

tined 12 people in Austria’s Ty-

rol province after a hotel recep-

tionist and her partner, both of

them Italians from Lombardy,

tested positive for the virus.

Sixty-two people who had con-

tact with them were tested at

the Grand Hotel Europa in

Innsbruck, a popular winter

sports resort, and nine were

put in isolation for two weeks.

On Tuesday, Switzerland,

where about 80,000 people a

day cross over from northern

Italy to work, reported its first

case, a person who had trav-

eled to Milan 10 days ago. The

man is quarantined in the hos-

pital and people close to him

have been placed in quaran-

tine as well, authorities said.

The biggest known cluster

of infections carried abroad by

Italians is in Spain’s Canary Is-

lands, where four Italian tour-

ists tested positive. About

1,000 people at the hotel

where they were staying were

put under quarantine on Tues-

day. Some have since been al-

lowedtoleave.

Meantime in Brazil, a man

returning from Italy tested

positive, while in Algeria, an

employee of Italian oil-and-gas

company Eni SpA was con-

firmed to have contracted

Covid-19.

Italy’s European neighbors

said at a meeting of health

ministers in Rome on Tuesday

that they would keep borders

open and continue to allow

Italians to travel. But the Euro-

pean Commission Wednesday

called for member states to re-

view their pandemic plans, in-

cluding procedures for tracing

the movements of patients.

Stella Kyriakides, the EU’s

commissioner for health care,

said at a joint press confer-

ence with World Health Or-

ganization officials and Italian

authorities said that while Eu-

rope is still focused on con-

taining the spread of the virus,

“this outbreak is a test case

for existing global emergency

response mechanisms as well

as for our cooperation within

the EU.”

Italy’s coronavirus outbreak
is being linked to a growing
number of infections around Eu-
rope, prompting countries and
companies to enact precaution-
ary measures to reduce travel to
and from Italy as the number of
fatalities clicked higher.

None of the European
Union’s member states are
proposing closing off borders,
a step that would break with
the EU’s ideals of open bor-
ders and seamless movement.
But checks and other pre-
cautions have proliferated in
recent days, as has pressure to
cancel events, both in coun-
tries bordering Italy and some
hundreds of miles away.
Concern was heightened on
Wednesday when Germany’s
health minister, Jens Spahn,
warned that the nation might
no longer be able to curb the
virus’s spread. He said infec-
tions that can’t be traced to
China were now being detected.
The number of confirmed
cases in Germany surpassed

20. Among them is a kinder-
    garten teacher, raising fears
    that the infection could have
    spread in her school.
    Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s flag-
    ship carrier, Bulgaria Air, can-
    celed all flights to Milan until
    March 27, while sporting
    events are coming under
    closer scrutiny.
    The Irish Rugby Football
    Union on Wednesday post-
    poned a match between Ire-
    land and Italy in Dublin on
    March 7 after Ireland’s gov-
    ernment said there was a risk
    that fans traveling from Italy
    might carry the virus.
    Ireland hasn’t imposed any
    bans on travelers coming from
    countries suffering coronavi-
    rus outbreaks—including It-
    aly—and the decision on
    whether the game should go
    ahead rested with the sporting
    body, which initially had been
    reluctant to cancel.
    The IRFU scratched the
    match, along with women’s
    and junior’s games scheduled

ByEric Sylversin

Milan andGiovanni

Legoranoin Rome

Europe Girds Against Italian Outbreak

New travel restrictions

and quarantines are

imposed, but borders

remain open for now

for the same period, after its

chief executive met with Min-

ister for Health Simon Harris,

who had called for the games

to be called off.

Hungary is imposing more

vehicle checks on its land bor-

ders, the government said on

Wednesday, and travelers re-

turning from an infected area

will be placed under quaran-

tine or under observation,

based on an assessment of

whether that person has “a

significant chance of having

been exposed to the virus,”

Hungary’s minister of human

capacities, Miklós Kásler, said

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering

FRANCE: 18

U.K.:13 CASES

ITALY: 453

SPAIN: 13

CROATIA: 3

GREECE: 1

AUSTRIA: 2

SWITZERLAND: 1

GERMANY: 27

BELGIUM: 1

Spreading Out

InfectionstiedtoanoutbreakinItalyhaveappearedinGreece,

Croatia,Austria,SwitzerlandandSpain.

Coronavirus cases so far in Europe, as of 1:33 a.m. CET, Feb. 26

the potential for such a case in

the U.S., and given our close fa-

milial, social and business rela-

tionships with China, it is not

unexpected that the first case

in the U.S. would be in Califor-

nia,” said Sonia Angell, director

of the department. “We are al-

ready responding.”

The fast-moving develop-

mentscameadayafteratop

CDC official, Nancy Messonnier,

warned businesses, schools and

communities to plan for poten-

tial outbreaks. Mr. Trump, who

has sought to project confi-

dence that the number of cases

in the U.S. will be contained,

was angered by the tone of the

remarks, two people familiar

with the discussions said.

U.S. stocks fell for the fifth

consecutive session on Wednes-

day as investors continued to

assess the economic impact of

the epidemic. Health and Hu-

man Services Secretary Alex

Azar said the U.S. should expect

more coronavirus cases and Mr.

Trump said schools should pre-

pare “just in case.” He said he

didn’t think it inevitable that

the virus will spread across the

U.S.: “This will end.”

More than 2,700 people have

died globally as a result of the

virus. While the U.S. has im-

posed travel restrictions on

China, Mr. Trump said “it’s not

the right time” to limit travel

to and from other countries

with major outbreaks.

The Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention has been

working to roll its coronavirus

test kits out to other public-

health labs, but the process was

stalled when some labs got in-

conclusive results. About 445

people have been tested.

U.S. cities have begun pre-

paring for possible outbreaks.

In San Francisco, officials are

working with hospitals and

clinics to identify rooms for

isolating coronavirus patients.

City officials also told schools

to start planning to manage po-

tential closures.

In Texas, Umair A. Shah, di-

rector of Harris County Public

Health, said a team of doctors,

scientists and outreach person-

nel have been meeting daily to

communications between states

and the federal government,

people familiar with the plan-

ning and some Democratic state

leaders said.

Some state leaders also say

the lack of a coronavirus czar to

head operations has Trump ad-

ministration agency heads and

advisers clashing over who is in

charge.

A federal coronavirus task

force, led by Mr. Azar, has been

meeting daily. The FDA is moni-

toring drug supplies for any po-

tential shortages and the CDC

has been operating its pandemic

preparedness and response,

working with states and provid-

ing daily monitoring of people

under quarantine.

Some Republicans, including

Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and

Mitt Romney of Utah, have

joined Democrats in calling for a

czar to supervise operations.

Mr. Azar has faced criticism

for his handling of the U.S. re-

sponse to the virus and has

butted heads with some admin-

istration officials, people famil-

iar with the matter said. Mr.

Azar, a former drug company ex-

ecutive, worked on disease out-

breaks as an HHS official in the

George W. Bush administration.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Azar was

doing a “fantastic job.”

On Capitol Hill, negotiations

on funding a response to the dis-

ease began, with staff from both

chambers and parties meeting

Wednesday. The Trump adminis-

tration’s proposal to spend at

least $2.5 billion on combating

the coronavirus—with $1.25 bil-

lion in new funds and at least

$1.25 billion in repurposed

funds—has disappointed mem-

bers of both parties.

Senate Minority Leader

Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) pro-

posed an $8.5 billion emergency

spending package Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Kevin

McCarthy (R., Calif.) said he ex-

pected the package to come in

around $4 billion. Mr. Trump

said he would leave it to Con-

gress to set the amount and

“we’ll take it.”

—Jonathan Rockoff, Andrew

Duehren and Jim Carlton

contributed to this article.

with infections or known expo-
sure to another patient. If con-
firmed, it would be the first
case of spread in a community
without a clear explanation.
So far, the confirmed infec-
tions in the U.S. were in people
who had either traveled to
China—where the virus is be-
lieved to have originated—or
were exposed to someone who
had. How the latest person was
infected is currently unclear,
according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The person is a resident of
Solano County and getting med-
ical care in Sacramento County,
according to the California De-
partment of Public Health.
“We have been anticipating

ContinuedfromPageOne

Trump Says

Virus Risk

Stays Low

coordinate readiness in the

Houston area.

New York City Mayor Bill de

Blasio said there are 1,200 public

hospital beds that can be made

available to patients who need

isolation. New York Gov. Andrew

Cuomo said he is seeking an

emergency appropriation of $

million for equipment and per-

sonnel.

The virus’s spread is worry-

ing some in the Trump adminis-

tration, who fear the conse-

quences of a large-scale

outbreak in the U.S., both in

terms of public health and the

president’s prospects for re-elec-

tion if the response falters. Plan-

ning for the coronavirus has

been hampered by haphazard

A California case

may be the first not

linked to travel

abroad.

FRANKFURT—Companies in
Europe’s largest economy are
rushing to limit the impact of
the spreading coronavirus epi-
demic, which is hitting an al-
ready weakened German econ-
omy in a particularly painful
spot: the supply chains of its
export-oriented manufactur-
ers.
With this week’s outbreak
in Italy, the infection has
struck some of Germany’s top
trade and economic partners
just as the economy, long Eu-
rope’s main engine of growth,
is reeling from a 7% drop in in-
dustrial production last year
amid trade conflicts, a long-
term slowdown in China, and
global political uncertainties.
In recent weeks, the na-
tion’s trade-reliant businesses
have been trying to unclog

bottlenecks in complex global

supply chains built up over de-

cades. They frequently thread

through China and Italy, two of

the countries most affected by

the virus.

As the number of confirmed

infections in the country rose

on Wednesday, Germany faces

a direct threat at home as

well. “We are at the beginning

of a coronavirus epidemic in

Germany,”’ the country’s

health-care minister warned.

Those reports heightened

concern that second-stage ef-

fects from the infection could

hit the parts of the German

economy that have so far re-

sisted the downturn, from

household consumption to

tourism and services.

In a blow to local hotels and

restaurants, the cities of

Frankfurt and Cologne on

Tuesday called off two large

trade fairs, citing the out-

break. And Deutsche Luf-

thansaAG said it was initiat-

ing cost-cutting and freezing

some new hiring in response

to the epidemic.

Germany’s DAX 30 stock-

market index, which fell more

than 4% on Monday, was off

another 1.9% on Tuesday and

slightly down on Wednesday,

bringing it back to its level of

late October. In a note, Dirk

Schumacher, head of European

economics at Natixis, wrote

that growth in Germany’s

gross domestic product, flat in

the last quarter of 2019, would

likely rebound only once the

epidemic is under control.

More than 5,000 German

companies in China are cur-

rently facing severe restric-

tions on procurement, produc-

tion and sales, according to

the Federation of German In-

dustries, the business lobby.

One concern is that manu-

facturers that have so far used

parts in stock or already in

transit when China put itself

on lockdown will suffer short-

ages of key components in the

coming weeks, even as China’s

manufacturers are slowly com-

ing back online.

“When the last ships reach

our harbors in a week or 10

days, that will be it from

China,” said Joerg Wuttke,

president of the European

Union Chamber of Commerce

in China and chief local repre-

sentative for German chemi-

cals companyBASFSE. “Then

you will see shortages on the

shelves of Europe.”

The spread of the virus to

Italy, meanwhile, could create

new supply-chain interrup-

tions because the economies of

Germany and northern Italy

are highly integrated, Clemens

Fuest, president of the Ifo eco-

nomic think tank in Munich,

said on Tuesday.

Industrial groupThyssenk-

ruppAG said it had only been

able to gradually restart pro-

duction in its Chinese plants

since Feb. 10 but couldn’t yet

gauge the impact of the clo-

sure on its business, partly be-

cause its customers, not just

its production, were also feel-

ing the impact.

February has been “very

bad,” said a senior executive at

a family-owned mechanical-en-

gineering company based in

northern Germany with more

than €500 million ($542 mil-

lion) in annual sales. “We’ve

had a significant reduction in

production for two months,

and we had to organize new

suppliers.”

German businesses in China

are seeking out alternative fac-

tories or suppliers to replace

those shut down by the virus,

said Oliver Wack, a trade ex-

pert at the Mechanical Engi-

neering Industry Association.

“People have now woken up

to the fact that you must have

a backup plan,” Mr. Wuttke

said.

BYTOMFAIRLESS
ANDWILLIAMBOSTON

German Economy Looks to Ward Off More Contagion

France

Exports of goods and services

as percentage of GDP

Source: World Bank

5







3

4

%

197 ’8 ’ 20  ’

Germany

U.S.

U.K.

 Companies are canceling

business travel........................ B