Chinese Banks Quarantine Cash, Japan and France have Coronavirus Deaths

This is a coronavirus update for February 15, 2020.

Who Knew What When?

In an attempt to show he was on top of things, Chinese president Xi claims to have been Fighting Virus Earlier Than Previously Reported.

China’s Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, issued internal orders about the coronavirus epidemic in early January, about two weeks before his first public remarks on the outbreak, according to a speech by Mr. Xi that was published Saturday.

Is that believable?

If so, that means the government hid concerns for two weeks.

Either way it looks bad to me.

Other News Headlines

• The U.S. says it will evacuate Americans from the cruise ship quarantined off Japan.

• France announces the first coronavirus death in Europe and its 12th case.

• China reports more than 2,000 new cases and 139 deaths, most in Hubei.

• Africa rushes to train health workers.

• Protests against coronavirus clinics spring up in Hong Kong. Many of the demonstrators, numbering in the hundreds, were dressed in black, the signature color of the city’s anti-government protests.

• At least two workers who helped build a new coronavirus hospital in 10 days are infected.

China’s Banks Quarantine or Destroy Cash

The central banking authorities of China are disinfecting, stashing and reportedly even destroying cash in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said at a news conference on Saturday that the cash collected by commercial bank

Cash collected from hospitals and food markets must be handled separately and disinfected before depositing the notes to the People’s Bank of China, Mr. Fan said. In severely hit regions, the collected cash must undergo ultraviolet or high-temperature disinfection and be stored for 14 days before going back to the market, he added. In less affected areas, the bank notes must be disinfected and stored for a week before use.

A People’s Bank of China branch in the southern city of Guangzhou is even destroying bank notes that came from hospitals, food markets and public transportation, according to a report by Nanfang, a state-owned outlet in Guangdong Province.