US stock markets continued to decline on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling over 800 points on coronavirus-related fears. The World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned the world was at a “decisive point” with the outbreak.
The Nasdaq lost 3.52% while the S&P 500 dropped 3.07% in early hours of trading.
Prices of oil futures sank further after the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that the global oil demand forecast for 2020 may be lowered further due to the coronavirus outbreak which is causing uncertainty.
Asia
The Chinese government announced it has provided 953 billion yuan ($135.8 billion) to SMEs affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The funds will go towards the sectors that have been severely affected by the outbreak.
According to the Chinese National Health Commission, the death toll from COVID-19 rose to 2,744 nationwide while the number of infected people grew over 78,500.
South Korea confirmed 505 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, exceeding the highest daily recorded cases in China of 433. Overall infections in the country reached 1,766.
