The Latest: Russia grounding all international flights
Posted Mar 26, 2020 02:41:25 AM.
Last Updated Mar 26, 2020 02:46:10 AM.
The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— Russia halting international flights starting Friday
— South Korea’s central bank to temporarily provide “unlimited” money to eligible banks, financial institutions
___
MOSCOW — Russian government officials announced the halting of all international flights starting from Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
An exception will be made for flights bringing Russians home from abroad, according to a statement published Thursday on the cabinet’s website.
Earlier this month, Russian authorities limited its air traffic to regular flights to world capitals and charter flights.
The new measure comes as the number of coronavirus cases in Russia rapidly grows. On Wednesday, the government reported a total of 658 cases, with 163 new cases registered since the previous day. That is a significantly bigger daily increase than in previous weeks, when the number of cases was growing by several dozens a day.
___
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s central bank says it will temporarily provide an “unlimited” amount of money to eligible banks and other financial institutions for three months through repurchase agreements as it tries to calm financial markets rattled by the global coronavirus crisis.
The Bank of Korea on Thursday said the measure was unprecedented but didn’t provide an estimate on how much money would be supplied to financial markets through the short-term borrowings.
The bank last week executed an emergency rate cut of 0.5 percentage points to help ease the economic fallout from the coronavirus, which brought its policy rate to an all-time low of 0.75%.
Some experts say it’s unclear whether traditional financial tools to boost money supplies would be effective now when the global pandemic has damaged both supply and demand, decimating industrial hubs in China and Italy and forcing millions to stay at home under tightened quarantines.
The Associated Press
