Adviser to Iran’s Supreme leader dies from coronavirus

An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died from the new coronavirus, as other top officials in the country are confirmed to be infected, according to multiple reports on Monday.

The Iranian Health Ministry recorded 523 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s known total to 1,501. They mark a 53 percent increase since the day before.

Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, was an Expediency Council member who advised Khamenei and settled disputes between him and parliament. COVID-19 has already infected Iran’s vice president and deputy health minister.
His death comes after the government on Monday rejected help from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who announced last week the U.S. was concerned Iran may have covered up details on the spread of the virus.

“We neither count on such help nor are we ready to accept verbal help,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said during a briefing on Monday. He added the country has always been “suspicious” over American intentions, and that the U.S. government was trying to weaken Iranians’ spirits over the outbreak.
Iran’s mortality rate from the virus is roughly 5.5 percent, compared to an overall fatality rate of about 2 percent in China. The difference in rates has led people to suggest the number of infections in Iran is higher than what the country has officially reported. The country’s first case was reported less than two weeks ago.

The virus has killed at least 66 people in Iran, the highest death toll outside of China. The majority of 1,150 cases throughout the Middle East are linked back to the country.
Iran was preparing the possibility of testing “tens of thousands” of people following a spike of cases on Saturday.
The country has closed schools and universities due to COVID-19, but religious Shiite shrines have remained open. Last week, Iranians were captured licking some of the shrines in defiance of the coronavirus.

Most countries in the Middle East have limited or ceased travel to the country. It has the 4th highest infected total outside of China, South Korea, and Italy.
India on Monday announced two positive cases of COVID-19, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. One person was found to be infected in New Delhi and had a travel history from Italy. The other was from the southern state of Telangana and had a travel history from Dubai.
Both patients are being closely monitored, the department said.
“Depending on the global evolving scenario, travel restrictions could be imposed as a precautionary measure,” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare.
Intelligence agencies had concerns over India’s lack of countermeasures to the virus and said its dense population could fuel a widespread outbreak, according to Reuters.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/advisor-irans-supreme-leader-dies-from-coronavirus-1150-cases-middle-east-linked-to-country

Trillium up 50% premarket on Gilead takeout of Forty Seven

Trillium Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TRIL) jumps 50% premarket on average volume in concert with Forty Seven (+62%) on the heels of Gilead’s $4.9B bid for the latter.

FTSV’s lead candidate is anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody magrolimab, in development for acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.

TRIL’s lead drug is TTI-621, also a CD47 inhibitor, in development for solid tumors and mycosis fungoides (type of cutaneous T cell lymphoma).

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3547358-trillium-up-50-premarket-on-gilead-takeout-of-forty-seven

Co-Diagnostics up 59% premarket on availability of COVID-19 test

Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) is poised to add to its torrid pace with its announcement that its coronavirus virus test kits are now available for purchase by CLIA-certified laboratories who have yet to complete their Emergency Use Authorization submissions with the FDA. Previously, labs had to wait for agency sign-off before ordering.

Shares up 59% premarket on robust volume. If the premarket price holds, shares will be up 20-fold since mid-January.

COVID-19-related tickers and premarket movement: AHPI (+21%), CEMI (+10%), IBIO (+42%), LAKE (+11%), VXRT (+15%), INO (+5%), NVAX (+9%), BCRX (+3%), COCP (+24%), MRNA (+3%), NNVC (+5%), REGN (+3%), GILD (+1%), JNJ (-1%), OPGN (+15%)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3547333-co-diagnostics-up-59-premarket-on-availability-of-covidminus-19-test

Gilead takes out Forty Seven for $4.9B

Immuno-oncology therapy developer Forty Seven (NASDAQ:FTSV) jumps 62% premarket on average volume in reaction to Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ:GILD) $95.50 per share cash offer representing a total transaction value of ~$4.9B.

The deal should close next quarter.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3547352-gilead-takes-out-forty-seven-for-4_9b

Dominican Republic, France report Caribbean virus cases

Health officials in the Dominican Republic and France on Sunday reported the first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the tourist-rich Caribbean, while British cruise ship passengers who had been trapped at sea due to virus fears were finally set to come home.

Dominican Public Health Minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas said a 62-year-old Italian man had arrived in the country on Feb. 22 without showing symptoms. He was being treated in isolation at a military hospital and “has not shown serious complications.”

France, meanwhile, reported three cases on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, the first in one of France’s overseas territories.

The announcements came shortly before the Braemar cruise ship, which had been denied entry to the Dominican Republic due to the virus fears, at last found a place to dock — the Dutch territory of St. Maarten.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/coronavirus-updates-live-countries-prepare-outbreak-spreads-n1143556/ncrd1146691#liveBlogHeader

Asian stock markets reverse losses on global policy stimulus hopes

Asian shares steadied from early losses on Monday as investors placed their hopes on a coordinated global monetary policy response to weather the damaging economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Pandemic fears pushed markets off a precipice last week, wiping more than $5 trillion from global share value as stocks cratered to their steepest slump in more than a decade.
The sheer scale of losses prompted financial markets to price in policy responses from the U.S. Federal Reserve to the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Futures now imply a full 50 basis point cut by the Fed in March <0#FF:> while Australian markets <0#YIB:>are pricing in a quarter-point cut at the RBA’s Tuesday meeting.
Also helping calm market nerves, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday the central bank would take necessary steps to stabilise financial markets. [
In equities, Chinese shares opened higher with the blue-chip index .CSI300 up 1.5%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.4%, turning around from a loss of about 0.3% earlier in the day.
E-minis for the S&P500 ESc1, which were down more than 1% at one point, were last up 0.3% while Japan’s Nikkei .N225, which opened 1.3% lower at a six month trough, climbed 0.4%.
Australia’s S&P ASX/200 , which had tumbled 3%, was last off 1.8%.

Benchmark U.S. 10-Year Treasuries hit a fresh record low of 1.0750% US10YT=RR.
Despite some stability in the market, analysts still expect volatility to persist.
“Any signs that new cases are beginning to taper could be seen as a positive catalyst for the market especially given that some of the market complacency has reduced with equity valuations much lower vs few weeks ago,” Nomura analysts wrote in a note.
“In the very near term until 1Q reporting results, we expect Asian equities may remain quite volatile,” they added.
“However, on a medium term basis we believe the risk-reward is now getting favourable, assuming the virus does not take the form of a virulent global pandemic.”
Leaders in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas rolled out bans on big gatherings and stricter travel restrictions over the weekend as cases of the new coronavirus spread.
The epidemic, which began in China, has killed almost 3,000 people worldwide as authorities race to contain infections in Iran, Italy, South Korea and the United States.
Both official and private surveys, released on Saturday and Monday respectively, showed China’s factory activity collapsing to its worst levels on record as the virus crippled broad areas of the economy.
“It is now highly probable that the coronavirus will spread globally,” Citi analysts said in a note.

“Financial markets may over-react until they have visibility on the actual impact.”
Investor panic last week sent bonds soaring and stocks plunging. The S&P 500 index .SPX fell 11.5%, only its fifth double-digit weekly percentage drop since 1940. [.N]
On Monday, oil extended losses before steadying on expectations OPEC may cut production. [O/R]
Brent crude last traded at $50.41 per barrel LCOc1 and U.S. crude CLc1 at $45.30 per barrel.
In currencies, investors sought shelter in the Japanese yen, which jumped to a 20-week high on the dollar in tandem with the massive shift in money markets to price U.S. rate cuts. [FRX/]
All of this leaves just about every major asset class on edge and few analysts sounding optimistic.
“So it was right not to ‘buy the dip,’” said Michael Every, Rabobank’s senior strategist for the Asia-Pacific.
The yen was last up 0.1% at 107.98.
The Aussie AUD=D3 huddled near an 11-year low at $0.6527, while the New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 slipped 0.1% to $6238.
The euro EUR=D3 was up 0.3% at $1.1054.

That left the dollar index =USD a shade weaker at 97.911.
A further set of manufacturing surveys from around the world due later on Monday will provide investors more detail on the virus’ impact on the global economy.
Later in the week, central bank meetings in Australia, on Tuesday, and Canada, on Wednesday, will be closely watched.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/asian-stock-markets-reverse-losses-on-global-policy-stimulus-hopes-idUSKBN20O2GA

Nigeria contacts 100 people who may have been exposed to coronavirus patient

Nigerian authorities have contacted around 100 people who may have been exposed to an Italian man who is the country’s first coronavirus patient, a Lagos state official said on Sunday, in a bid to stop an outbreak in Africa’s most populous country.

The case, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, has prompted fears the virus could spread quickly in Lagos. The densely populated commercial capital of 20 million people is the biggest city in a country of some 200 million inhabitants.
Health experts are concerned about an outbreak in a region where health systems are already overburdened with cases of malaria, measles, Ebola and other infectious diseases.
The Italian man arrived in Lagos on Feb. 24 from Milan on a Turkish Airlines flight that had a connection in Istanbul. The following day he traveled to neighboring Ogun state and was in the country for almost two full days before being isolated.
Asked in a telephone interview about the number of people Nigerian authorities had been in touch with who may have had contact with the man, Lagos state Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi said: “It is around 100 people but that number is increasing every minute.”
The patient works as a vendor for cement company Lafarge Africa Plc (WAPCO.LG) in the southwestern state of Ogun.
“The number is going up all the time as we find people who were on the flight. We found people who were on the journey to Ogun, in contact with him at the factory and people at the hotel,” Abayomi said.
Health Minister Osagie Ehanire, speaking on Nigerian TV, said the man was responding to treatment and seemed to be “on the way to recovery”.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, in a statement issued late on Sunday, called for calm.
“President Buhari urges Nigerians not to panic about the news of this first case of Covid-19 in our country, as undue alarm would do us more harm than good,” said the statement.
Lafarge issued a statement on Sunday in which it said its cement production lines remained open. It said 39 people who were in direct contact with the man had been quarantined.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-nigeria-idUSKBN20O1UZ