European shares have fallen further as fears over the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the world's financial markets.

London's FTSE 100 had opened higher on Tuesday, but the rally quickly ran out of steam and the index was down by about 1% during morning trade.

Other major European markets were showing similar falls.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the coronavirus pandemic as the "defining global health crisis of our time", and urged countries to test all suspected cases of COVID-19.

Malaysia recorded its first death from the coronavirus while the United States and countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East have closed schools, entertainment venues and all but essential services.

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Traffic police and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) have been tasked, to ensure compliance with safety precautions in Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) James Macharia, while checking on Kenya Railways' preparedness against the disease at the Nairobi railway terminus, said the government is bringing on board all stakeholders, in both public and private sectors to prevent spread of the virus that has so far afflicted 156 countries.

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Gold prices fell nearly 1.5% on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session’s meltdown, as investors continued to sell assets to keep their money in cash because of heightened concerns over the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic.

Autocatalyst metals platinum and palladium rose more than 5% each in early trade before paring most of the gains. The metals were the worst hit in Monday’s free fall since they are also considered industrial metals.

Spot gold fell 1.4% to $1,492.81 an ounce by 3.11am GMT, having slumped as much as 5.1% on Monday to its lowest since November 2019. US gold futures gained 0.2% to $1,490.

Asian shares fell in a topsy-turvy session following one of Wall Street’s biggest one-day routs in history as headlines about the outbreak and its global economic impact whiplashed investor sentiment.

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The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority is anticipating a twenty percent drop in revenue following a drop in the number of flights permitted into the country in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Director General of the Authority, Ing., Simon Allotey, said that they may have to resort to other means to make up for the shortfall.

The disclosure by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority head follows the latest measures announced by government on Sunday [March 15, 2020], to prevent a likely spread of the coronavirus after Ghana recorded six imported cases.

Among other restrictions, Ghana is not permitting in bound flights carrying passengers other than Ghanaians in countries that have recorded more than 200 cases of the COVID-19.

This means that passengers scheduled to fly into Ghana from countries like the UK, China, Italy, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany cannot do so until such a time that the restrictions are revised.

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Shareholders of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc are to receive dividend and bonus shares for the financial year ended December 31, 2019 following improved performance recorded for the year.

The company is to pay a cash dividend of N3.63 billion, which translates to N2.75 per share compared to N2.64 billion paid in 2018. In addition to the cash dividend, the directors have recommended a bonus issue of one new share for every five already held by shareholders.

Details of the performance showed that Julius Berger Nigeria posted a revenue of N266.43 billion, showing an increase of 36.8 per cent compared with N194.62 billion in 2018.

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Red Star Express Plc has successfully raised N1.347 billion from existing shareholders through the rights issue of 336,855,291 shares of 50 kobo each. The rights issue was made at N4 per share on the basis of four new shares for every seven shares already held.

The offer was made late last year and according to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the issue was 100 per cent successful. Consequently, the NSE said, it had listed additional 336,855,291 ordinary shares of the company.

The company had said the purpose of the exercise was to raise additional capital to finance the expansion of its current operations, the deployment of modern technology and improvement of its working capital.

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The federal government yesterday added three new countries- Germany, France and Spain- to the list of five high-risk countries with widespread community transmission of COVID-19 virus for which it has issued travel caution.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari has received the report of the committee set up by the federal government to assess the health and economic impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on the country.

Addressing Newsmen on the  efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic in the country, the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, said despite the fact that Nigeria has not recorded another confirmed case in the last one week, the government has not lost sight that the country like others is still at high risk.

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The 20th National Sports Festival scheduled to begin on March 22 in Benin City, Edo State has been postponed.

The Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, announced the postponement of the Edo 2020 on his Twitter handle a few minutes ago.

His tweet says Following the briefing of Mr. President (Muhammadu Buhari) from myself and the Minister of State for Health on COVID 19, Mr. President has approved the immediate postponement of Edo Sports festival to a future date.

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Pakistan has recorded its biggest single-day spike in coronavirus infections, taking the tally to 107, amid reports of ineffective quarantine procedures as 61 of those are reported to be among those who had been held at a quarantine camp at the country's Taftan border crossing with Iran.

No deaths due to the coronavirus have been recorded, according to government data.

Spokesperson for Sindh province’s health minister,Meeran Yousuf disclosed that the spike in caseswas mainly because of the people who came from Taftan. They had been quarantined there, and then we moved them to our own facility where we tested them,"

People currently in the Taftan camp told newsmen that they were not being adequately screened for coronavirus or treated for existing conditions. They also complained of squalid living conditions at the facility, which is housing hundreds of people.

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