In this round-up, Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is ready to provide loans to help China combat the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Ministry of Finance has rolled out more easing measures amid the epidemic, and Huishang Bank has finally confirmed it is taking over Baoshang Bank.
The number of new people confirmed to have the novel coronavirus in mainland China outside of Hubei province — the centre of the outbreak — has dropped for seven consecutive days, data from the National Health Commission showed. As of February 9, new cases stood at 444, versus 890 on February 3.
The total confirmed cases have shot up to 35,982 across the Mainland, with 3,281 people discharged from hospitals and 908 deaths recorded.
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The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said it “stands ready” to support China through public health infrastructure loans, subject to approval of its board of directors. Jin Liqun, president of Beijing-headquartered AIIB, said in a Monday press release that the supranational will also work with the Chinese government to “identify effective public health infrastructure investments that will prevent the rapid spread of future outbreaks”.
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Large Chinese technology companies including Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, Tencent Holdings and Meituan Dianping are extending their work-from-home arrangements, as confirmed coronavirus cases in China continue to rise.
Baidu and Meituan told their employees not to return to the office until February 17, with Tencent employees now set to return on February 24 instead of the originally planned 17th. Alibaba also pushed back the scheduled reopening of its offices on February 10 to a later date, according to reports from onshore media outlets.
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US secretary of state Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning US time that an additional $100m of existing funds will be used to support China in combating the coronavirus outbreak.
“This commitment — along with the hundreds of millions generously donated by the American private sector — demonstrates strong [US] leadership in response to the outbreak,” Pompeo said. “Together we can have a profound impact.”The announcement came after a phone call between US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday morning Beijing time.*Despite feeling the pressure of the rapid spread of the new disease in the country, China said it has the confidence to meet all its fiscal targets in 2020, state media Xinhua reported last Friday, citing Yu Weiping, vice finance minister.*China’s foreign currency reserves reached $3.1tr in January, […]