March 31 coronavirus news

The Federal Reserve is opening up another avenue for stressed-out foreign central banks to get access to US dollars during the coronavirus crisis.

The new emergency program, announced today, is part of the Fed's sweeping efforts to keep credit flowing to American businesses and households despite the severe economic shock inflicted by the pandemic.

The US central bank said the new temporary repurchase agreement (repo) facility will let foreign central banks swap US Treasuries for US dollars. Those greenbacks can then be transferred to local banks in need of cash.

The Fed said the new program, set to launch April 6, would mostly be used "only in unusual circumstances such as those prevailing at present."

The goal is to lower the need for foreign central banks to dump US Treasuries in fire sales, which can disrupt markets and cause yields to rise. And that in turn lifts borrowing costs on everything from mortgages to credit cards.

Demand for the US dollar, the world's preeminent currency, has spiked during the crisis.

In response, the Fed promised to provide cheap dollars to foreign central banks through liquidity swap lines. The Fed expanded that facility to Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

US stocks opened modestly lower on Tuesday, following the prior session’s gains. Stocks have been up for four of the past five trading days.

Here's where things opened:

You can follow live updates from the markets here.

UNICEF is donating a range of medical and protective gear to help Spain’s health system fight Covid-19, according to a tweet from UNICEF Spain.

The organization says it is providing 400,000 masks, 100,000 coronavirus test kits, 1,000 personal protection kits and alcohol-based sanitizing gels.

Paris Orly airport will stop commercial flights today at 5 p.m. ET (which is 11 p.m. local time) according to the Chief Executive Officer of Orly Airport, Augustin de Romanet.

Speaking on RTL, a French radio station, Romanet said that Orly was “confining but not closing Orly airport.” He continued by saying that the airport would remain open for “medical flights, special flights, government flights and aircraft diversions.” 

This is the first time that Orly has closed since it opened in 1961.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a stay-at-home order for his state that went into effect at 8 p.m. ET on Monday night. Violating the order carries a penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine not to exceed $5,000.  

Hogan said it was “one of the last tools in our arsenal,” telling CNN’s John Berman that “we've reached the point where we believe it's necessary to further get people off the streets so we can continue to save thousands of lives.” 

The Republican governor said the federal government and every individual states are aware they need more supplies and coronavirus testing — and coordination is key. 

“Without the tests, we really are flying blind,” he says.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has predicted up to 200,000 deaths from coronavirus. Hogan said he's been listening to both Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a national public health emergency today during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The country's Ministry of Health will coordinate with regional leaders to implement social distancing measures, according to state-run Antara News Agency.

Widodo also announced that all Indonesian citizens who have recently traveled home from abroad will be required to undergo a 14-day period of self-isolation, Antara reported.

"If they exhibit no symptoms (of coronavirus), they can return to their hometowns," he said. "Shortly after arriving in their hometowns, they must maintain high discipline to conduct self-isolation."

Earlier today, Indonesia banned most foreign visitors from entering or transiting through the country.

The White House is expected to reissue federal coronavirus guidelines sometime today, which may feature some slight adjustments, according to an administration official. 

Trump announced Sunday that he would extend the federal guidelines another month.

There's been an internal debate over whether to ease up on the social distancing efforts, and some aides recommended the President only extend them another 15 days. However, health advisers argued that a month was necessary. 

Trump told aides it would be better to ease the guidelines earlier than expected rather than have to extend them yet again. 

The bleak images from Elmhurst Hospital played a major role in Trump's decision to keep the guidelines in place. Two officials said polling that showed the public largely favored keeping the guidelines intact also played a role.

Some officials don't trust the models the President is being shown. This is a pretty prevalent line of thinking inside the West Wing. Several aides have dismissed them, believing they are overblown and that past projections have been wrong. 

Officials from the task force are expected to preview those models at some point today, though it's not clear when or how yet. 

While New York state still leads the nation — by far — in growing numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths, the rate of daily increases did appear to slow a bit in the last seven days

An analysis of CNN's count shows that the state’s average rate of day-over-day increase for the last seven days was 17% — compared to 58% for the previous seven-day period.

This is in line with what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo suggested in a news conference Monday.

"There is no doubt that the number is still increasing. There is no doubt that rate has slowed," Cuomo said. "We had a doubling of cases every two days, then the doubling of three days and doubling of four days and every five days and we now have a doubling of cases every six days."

It is too early to definitively pinpoint what's behind the latest numbers trend, though New York is just over one week into its "PAUSE" program, an executive order outlining major restrictions and other containment measures.

It is also important to note that increased testing can impact these numbers. While more testing often leads to higher case totals, it can also lead to a backlog of test results and a delay in the true number.

When it comes to death rate reports, CNN's count shows that New York state had an average daily increase of 34% for the last seven days, compared to 61% for the previous week. But death rate increases are much harder to interpret, since patients die over longer periods of time.

CNN's tally is based on daily updates obtained from state and local health authorities.

Airline passengers around the world are due $35 billion in ticket refunds this quarter, according the International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines globally. 

That sum, due to the drop in airline travel linked to the coronavirus, is “an immense amount of money to refund,” the group’s head, Alexandre de Juniac, told reporters on Tuesday. 

IATA said it is asking governments to change the rules to allow airlines to make more refunds in the form of vouchers rather than cash. He said the cases where airlines are able to provide passengers a voucher for future travel rather than a refund is helpful because it can “preserve the cash of the airline.” 

The group’s latest projections are for a worldwide loss of $39 billion in this quarter alone across the industry, versus a profit of $7 billion in the same time frame last year. Last week, it predicted $252 billion in industry-wide losses due to the coronavirus. 

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