China's Hubei province confirms 411 new cases of coronavirus, and 115 new deaths as of Feb 20

Ross J Burland FXStreet

China's Hubei province confirms 411 new cases of coronavirus and 115 new deaths as of Feb 20. However, the focus is starting to spread to global regions as the so-called 'superspreader' is reported to be infecting tens of thousands of confirmed cases globally and more than 2,200 deaths — most of them in mainland China.

In recent news, 40 people in Korea and two people evacuated to Darwin yesterday have tested positive for coronavirus, adding to 15 cases of coronavirus cases that had been confirmed in Australia on Wednesday. The federal department of health was stating of those, 15, eight people have recovered with the rest in a stable condition.

UPDATE: South Korea Confirms 52 More Cases Of Coronavirus, Takes Total To 156 – Yonhap
China reports 889 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on the mainland on Feb 20 vs 394 on Feb 19 – Reuters.

WHO says "window of opportunity" to contain coronavirus outbreak still open

CBS News explained that the "World Health Organization (WHO) will work with health authorities in Africa to coordinate a response to the potential arrival of the new coronavirus on the continent, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing Thursday. The focus will be on countries where health systems are weaker." Tedros stressed that it was still possible to contain the outbreak. "Let's not squander the window of opportunity we have," he said. "The number of cases in the rest of the world is very small compared to China, but that may not stay the same for long."

FX implications

For the meantime, markets remain on red alert although it is the US dollar which is attracting the bulk of the safe-haven flows, which has rallied towards a test of the 100 handle in the DXY.

USD/JPY struggles around 112.00 amid fresh risk-off, Japan data

Author

Ross J Burland

FXStreet

Ross J Burland, born in England, UK, is a sportsman at heart. He played Rugby and Judo for his county, Kent and the South East of England Rugby team.

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