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12.03.2020 10 COVID-19 Coronavirus What countries are doing to counter Covid-19 SOME companies in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the new coronavirus outbreak emerged late last year, are to be allowed to return to work, provincial officials said. Businesses involved in providing daily necessities can resume work and produc- tion immediately, as can those that are key to "global industrial chains" after getting approval, said the Hubei provincial gov- ernment. Other companies are expected to resume production only after 20 March. Similar rules apply in areas considered high-risk in the province outside Wuhan, where companies involved in epidemic prevention, public utilities and providing necessities may resume work. In areas considered medium or low-risk, there is a broader range of companies al- lowed to return to work. Passenger flights, trains, cars, ships and city buses in middle and low-risk areas, moving within the province and excluding Wuhan, will "gradually resume operations" as well, without giving any timeframe. Authorities said they will continue strict control measures on channels out of Wu- han and Hubei. China remains the hardest-hit by the virus overall with more than 80,000 cas- es and 3,000 deaths, out of a global total of 117,339 cases and 4,251 people dying across 107 countries and territories. China to allow some firms return to work in Wuhan Italy prepares to increase fiscal stimulus ITALIAN prime minister Giuseppe Conte is preparing to increase Italy's fiscal stimulus program for the fourth time in a month, officials said, after the European Union agreed to stretch its budget rules to the limit to help member states fight the coronavirus. While finance ministry officials in Rome were working out how to dou- ble their existing package to as much as €16 billion, Conte joined a video conference with the other EU lead- ers on Tuesday and appealed to them to show the same determination and solidarity they displayed during the euro crisis. A spokesman for the Ital- ian finance ministry declined to com- ment. "We will make full use of the flex- ibility which exists in the Stability and Growth Pact," commission pres- ident Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference afterward. "We will clarify rules for the game for mem- ber states very quickly - there will be guidelines by the end of the week." With the number of confirmed cases in Italy passing 10,000, Conte called on the European Central Bank to help shore up the economy, ac- cording to one European official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. e premier even evoked the "what- ever it takes" language that came to symbolise the institution's key role in stabilising the euro area in 2012, the official said. ECB president Christine Lagarde said she'll propose measures to sup- port small- and medium-sized busi- nesses when the governing council meets on ursday, Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa said. She also urged governments to do their bit by delivering fiscal stimulus, according to another official with knowledge of the call. Conte is wrestling with an unprec- edented economic and health crisis that is threatening to overwhelm hos- pitals in the industrial engine room of northern Italy and is set to tip the country into a brutal recession. e prime minister's response to the virus hasn't been courageous and Italy needs to commit at least €50 billion to economic relief, op- position League party leader Matteo Salvini said in an interview with Cor- riere della Sera. After meeting with Conte and other political leaders on Tuesday, he called for a Europe-wide lockdown to prevent countries from waging economic war on Italy. Leeway On Monday, Conte signaled he'd asked the EU for more leeway over spending rules and ordered a na- tionwide lockdown in an effort to stem the contagion. It's still not clear whether those measures will be enough with the death toll rising to 631 on Tuesday. e European leaders who joined Conte on Tuesday's two-and-a-half hour call pledged to use all available tools at their disposal including bend- ing fiscal and state-aid rules to shield the bloc's economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. But they stopped short of declaring the coor- dinated fiscal stimulus program that Conte and French president Emma- nuel Macron were demanding. "e participants were in agree- ment that member states will deploy all necessary resources for economic stability," German chancellor An- gela Merkel's spokesman said in an emailed statement. Germany, the bloc's fiscal superpower, has repeat- edly ruled out unleashing the full force of its budget capacity to back- stop European growth. Another European official said the mood on the call was more somber than at any time since the height of the euro-area debt crisis. ere was a real sense of emergency and a gener- al feeling that the EU had been seen as being too slow to react, at least in a joined up way, the official said. All agreed it was vital to show solidarity with Italy and some seemed shaken after Conte spoke. While the ECB has limited policy space to act, expectations are mount- ing among economists that it will cut interest rates deeper into negative territory and take steps to help strug- gling small firms. Some also predict bond purchases will be boosted. A medical staff member sprays disinfectant at a residential area in Wuhan Pigeons gather on Piazza del Duomo by Milan's cathedral

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