Australia reports second coronavirus death, warns of hit to economy

Australia recorded its second death from the coronavirus, the first from a "local transmission", and warned on Thursday the crisis will subtract at least half a percentage point from the country's economic growth in the current quarter.

The death of an elderly woman who contracted the disease from a worker at her aged care home took the number of infections in Australia to 52.

The majority of those cases are people who contracted the disease while onboard a Carnival Corp cruise ship and were evacuated back to Australia for treatment after the Diamond Princess was quarantined off the Japanese coast.

However, concerns are growing that the illness may spread more rapidly as people in at least five of the confirmed cases contracted the virus locally, including doctors who had not treated any known infection patients.

Despite official attempts to quell public anxiety, the country's major grocers this week reported growing incidents of consumer stockpiling and social media was awash with photographs and videos of overloaded shopping trolleys. Several stores imposed strict limits on purchases of items, notably toilet paper, as a result.

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy said it was too early to determine the long-term economic toll of the epidemic, but it was clear it would have immediate and significant effects.

"At this stage we expect the virus to detract at last half a percentage point from growth in the March quarter 2020," Kennedy told a parliamentary committee in Canberra on Thursday.

The estimate is in line with that made by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Treasury had forecast gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.25% to end-June 2020.

Kennedy said the forecast takes into account the impacts on tourism, international education exports, and some exchange-rate effects.

Travel Bans

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Thursday a fiscal stimulus package expected to be announced within days will be worth billions of dollars and be targeted to sectors most affected by the coronavirus.

"It is going to have a 'b' in front of it that is for sure," Frydenberg told Sky News. "The shock is very significant."

Australia was one of the first countries to take a hardline approach to tackle the outbreak, imposing border controls on visitors from the epidemic's epicentre in China a month ago.

It last week extended that ban to people arriving from Iran but cautioned it could no longer guarantee an infected person would not get through its border quarantine checks.

The National Security Committee is due to meet on Thursday to discuss whether to extend bans still further, a source familiar with the details told Reuters. Local media reported Australia could extend the restrictions to include anyone who has traveled to Italy and South Korea.

There are now more than 94,000 coronavirus cases and 3,220 deaths globally, according to a Reuters tally.