Evening Update Monday 2 March 2020

A 3 year old child has tested positive for the coronavirus at the Lenval hospital in Nice. The mayor of Nice revealed the new case of the virus this morning but also said that 14 other people had tested negative. The new case brings the number of cases in the Alpes Maritimes to eight. The mayor has been meeting with doctors, nurses, town hall and SOS Medecin representatives to share information. Several local events have been cancelled due to the coronavirus. The Urban Trial in Mougins which was to take place this coming Sunday has been postponed to June 28. The Mipim real estate fair in Cannes has also been postponed until June. Meanwhile at Marseille airport Twinjet has announced that they will be suspending all flights from Marseille to Milan until March 15th due to the coronavirus. The company said that all passengers would be reimbursed.

Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron has cancelled all his trips that are not related to the virus outbreak. He was due to attend a dinner this evening and to travel to the Gers department tomorrow. The Louvre museum in Paris remains closed to visitors after staff on Sunday refused to work due to fears over the coronavirus.  Around 300 staff met yesterday morning and voted not to open and this has been confirmed by a further vote this morning. The Paris Book Fair has also been cancelled. The prefect of the Oise department has banned all public gatherings, irrespective of size because of the number of confirmed cases of the virus grouped in several municipalities in the department. The French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, said in an interview today that he now expected the impact on French economic growth to be "much more significant" than he had originally anticipated.

British Airways has said that it’s cancelling some flights between the UK and US, as well to some European countries including Italy, France and Germany. The airline said it was merging a number of flights between 16 March and 28 March and would be contacting affected customers. Ryanair and Lufthansa also announced today that they'd be cancelling and reducing some flights to and from affected countries.

Meteo France has a wide range of Yellow weather warnings in operation for the Var and the Alpes Maritimes this evening. High winds are expected from 6pm this evening and will continue until at least 2am in the Alpes Maritimes and at least 10am tomorrow in the Var.The warning for high waves and coastal flooding is in operation until midnight tonight. There are warnings for heavy rain and storms in the early part of this evening. In the Alpes Maritmes there’s also a Yellow warning for icy conditions until 10pm. You can get more information at www.meteofrance.com Due to the bad weather the coast road linking Antibes to Villeneuve-Loubet was partially closed in both directions since late this morning but has now been completely reopened to traffic.

A criminal trial in Nice has been postponed because of protests by lawyers outside the court. Lawyers from the Nice and Grasse bars have been demonstrating today at the trial of a teenager who is alleged to have opened fire on pupils at the Lycée Tocqueville in Grasse in 2017. The trial was due to get underway today but has now been postponed until 9am tomorrow. The trial is expected to continue until the 20th of March. The lawyers are demonstrating against pension reforms which they say will seriously affect some members of their profession.

The body of a man has been found in the street in Carcès in the Var. He was discovered at 7.00 this morning near the post office and had suffered serious injuries. An investigation has been opened. Suicide is suspected but other causes of death have not been ruled out.

A motorist has driven into the Old port in Marseille this morning. The incident happened on Quai Marcel Pagnol at around 7.50am. The cause is believed to have been a GPS navigation error.

The Hautes-Alpes has been placed on a Meteo France Orange alert for avalanches until the middle of this evening, when the alert level drops to a Yellow warning. There has been fresh snowfall over much of the department today. The Prefect has said that there is a 4 out of 5 avalanche risk and has made the use of special equipment compulsory. There’s also been fresh snowfall at many of the resorts closer to the Riviera. Isola2000 was reporting 20cm of fresh snow as of 9.30 this morning.

A man is being sought by police after the death of a woman in Le Mans in the Sarthe department. The 25 year old’s body was found in her house this morning. Her two children, aged two and four, are being looked after by local authorities.

 

BUSINESS

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD, has warned that the global economy could grow at its slowest rate since 2009 this year due to the coronavirus outbreak. The organization forecast growth of just 2.4% in 2020, down from its estimate of 2.9% in November. But it said a longer "more intensive" outbreak could cut growth to just 1.5%.

The Bank of England has said it will help stabilise financial markets, joining other central banks in promising action to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus. Earlier today Japan's central bank said it was prepared to intervene. This mirrored a similar pledge from the US Federal Reserve on Friday.

New figures suggest that the European tourism industry has been badly affected by the coronavirus outbreak. EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said that there had been a drop in tourists from China. There had been two million less overnight stays since January meaning a reduction in revenue of about one billion euros.

 

SPORT

Cricket… New Zealand have completed a 2-0 Test series win against India in Christchurch. The Kiwis won by seven wickets after bowling out India for just 124 in their second innings. India also lost the first Test by 10 wickets. India captain Virat Kohli said the team were “completely outplayed” in the series.

Australia have avoided an early exit at the Womens’ T20 World Cup with a four-run victory over New Zealand putting them into the semi-finals.

MotoGP… The first two races of the MotoGP season have been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The first race was in Qatar on Sunday and the second race in Thailand on 22 March. Moto2 and Moto3 will still race this weekend as their teams were already in Qatar for pre-season testing.

Football… English international Daniel Sturridge has left Turkish side Trabzonspor eight months into a three-year contract. He’s played 16 times this season and scored seven goals. The club said his contract had been terminated by mutual consent.

FA Cup fifth round ties are being played this week. Portsmouth of League 1 host Arsenal tonight and there are more ties tomorrow including Chelsea against Liverpool.

 

 

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