Morning Update: U.S. restricts travel from Europe, NBA suspends season, and other coronavirus updates

Good morning,

These are the top stories:

First, here are the latest updates on the coronavirus

• President Donald Trump announced he is sharply restricting passenger travel from Europe for 30 days beginning Friday. He is also moving to ease the economic cost of a viral pandemic that is disrupting global financial markets. Canada will not be following the U.S. lead at this time, according to a spokesperson from the PMO.
• The NBA has suspended its season “until further notice” after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus. Utah’s last game was Monday at home against the Toronto Raptors.
• The outbreak is a “national emergency and crisis,” said federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu. Between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of Canadians could become infected with the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, Hajdu said. That number will depend on the scope and scale of the response to combat transmission.

The Globe and Mail is looking to speak to people who regularly visit family or friends in nursing homes. Are you thinking twice about visiting because of the possibility of spreading the new coronavirus to vulnerable seniors? Have you been turned away from visiting a nursing home? Please email health reporter Kelly Grant, kgrant@globeandmail.com

Coronavirus in Canadian news:

• A child at a Calgary daycare tested positive for COVID-19, becoming Canada’s first case affecting a minor. Kids who attend the daycare and their parents have been advised to go into self-isolation.
• The federal government announced an economic package worth $1.1-billion and unveiled several short-term measures to address the health and economic consequences in response to the virus.
• A growing number of Canadian companies are asking employees to work from home.
• Indigenous leaders are raising concerns about the potential impact of the coronavirus on their remote and rural communities. They don’t want the outbreak to push other issues off of the agenda for their meeting with provincial and federal leaders.

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Some information you need to know:

• What to buy: Avoid stockpiling, but what – and how much – do you need to ensure you’re not caught off-guard in a pandemic? Here’s advice from emergency and survival experts.
• Protection for older adults: About one in five people who catch the virus need hospital care – and older individuals appear to be at higher risk of developing serious illness, according to WHO. Here is a guide on protection measures.
• Protection for children: While there appear to be fewer cases and less severe illness among children so far, experts do not yet know why. Here’s a guide on what you can do to protect your children and take care of them during an outbreak.
• Opinion: Canada needs to embrace social distancing, but what is it? Social distancing means limiting our public interactions. It doesn’t mean mass quarantine or shutting down our borders, writes André Picard.

Have you had to self-quarantine because of the coronavirus? We want to hear your story. Email: tips@globeandmail.com

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Bombardier’s CEO Alain Bellemare is out in major shakeup

Alain Bellemare is out as the chief executive of Bombardier Inc. in a major shakeup of leadership positions at two Quebec business institutions.

Five years after being hired to pull the ailing plane and train maker out of its slide, Bellemare will be replaced by Hydro-Québec CEO Éric Martel as of April 6, Bombardier said in a news release late Wednesday.

Teck’s Frontier oil sands project faced push back from Liberal cabinet ministers

Several Liberal ministers worked behind the scenes earlier this year against Teck Resources Ltd.’s proposed oil sands mine in Alberta, according to Liberal and government sources.

Teck withdrew its application for the Frontier project, but the internal debate highlighted divisions among Liberals over the party’s environmental agenda and whether there is room for compromise in the name of economic development and national unity.

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Iran agrees to send flight recorders from downed Ukrainian airliner to Kyiv: Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada would have experts present when the flight recorders were analyzed. One of their tasks, he said, would be to determine whether the devices had been tampered with in any way.

Ontario Court justice accused of lying to disciplinary body, to appear in second hearing: At the heart of the first hearing was Justice Donald McLeod’s role with a black-community organization that lobbies government and seeks funding. Judicial codes of conduct instruct judges to stay clear of politics and fundraising.

Bernie Sanders says he isn’t dropping out of the Democratic race: It was unclear whether Sanders believed he could still win the nomination, or if he was aiming to push the moderate front-runner Joe Biden and the Democratic platform to the left.

Turkey vows strong military action if Syrian government violates fragile ceasefire: The ceasefire arranged by Turkey and Russia – who support opposing sides in the conflict – halted a three-month air and ground campaign by the Syrian government against the rebel-held province.

MORNING MARKETS

Global stocks plunge into bear market as Trump imposes Europe travel ban: Global stocks plunged into a bear market and oil slumped on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump banned travel from Europe to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Just before 6:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 5.63 per cent. Germany’s DAX lost 5.82 per cent and France’s CAC 40 dropped 5.68 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei ended down 4.41 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished down 3.66 per cent. New York futures were sharply lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 72.49 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Canada’s biggest fiscal crisis isn’t in Alberta. It’s in a province much farther east

Andrew Coyne: “The federal government’s finances are often said to be sustainable. But it will be increasingly difficult to disentangle them from those of the provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador may be the first test.”

There is no conspiracy to stop Bernie Sanders

Konrad Yakabuski: “Mr. Sanders is free to fight for what he believes in. But he is not losing because of some establishment plot. He’s losing because most Democrats know he’s not one of them.”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

How long does the coronavirus live on surfaces? Does bleach clean it off? Your cleaning questions answered

Practising good hand hygiene, covering your mouth and nose when you sneeze, and cleaning and disinfecting oft-handled items “are the most important ways that you can protect yourself and your family from respiratory illness, including COVID-19,” according to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website. But which surfaces should you pay attention to most? And how should you clean and disinfect for the virus? Here’s Wency Leung’s guide.

MOMENT IN TIME

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Elizabeth Smart is found alive in Utah

March 12, 2003: It is the kind of ending for which every parent of a missing child hopes: Nine months after 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night, she was discovered alive nearby in a Salt Lake City suburb. In her autobiography, My Story, published 10 years later at the age of 25, Smart revealed the brutality of those “nine months of hell”: repeated rapes by her captor, a crazed religious zealot who once worked as a handyman for the Smarts, and being treated as a slave by his wife. She was held at campsites in Utah and California, and was concealed in public by being forced to wear a robe and veil. There were a number of near-rescues, she writes, including one meeting with a police officer in a Salt Lake City library where, fearing for her family’s safety, she chose to stay silent. The end came when, in San Diego, she convinced her captors that God wanted them to return to Utah. She believed she had a better chance to be discovered there, and she was right. Shortly after arriving, the trio was stopped by police. “Are you Elizabeth Smart?” an officer asked. This time, she answered: “I am Elizabeth.” It was over. — Noreen Rasbach

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