Stock markets suffered their worst day in more than a decade yesterday as fears about the economic impact of coronavirus mixed with crashing oil prices to wipe billions of dollars off the value of some companies. The day has been dubbed „Black Monday” by some and is the worst day for some markets since the 2008 financial crisis.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell by 8% early in the day but recovered slightly later on. In New York, trading had to be halted after just minutes as the market dropped 7% and a so-called 'circuit breaker’ kicked in.

Markets had already been jittery as coronavirus takes its toll on the economy, but the jitters became an earthquake yesterday when the price of oil crashed as the result of a price battle between Saudi Arabia and Russia, with the price of Brent crude dropping more than 20%.

Poland to cancel all large events and introduce sanitary checks at borders

Poland has announced it is to introduce sanitary checks at its borders in an attempt to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday that checks would be introduced first at the German and Czech borders before being extended nationwide.

The prime minister said he discussed the new sanitary controls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

He also encouraged people to cancel public events.

Other countries have been taking similar measures:

Yesterday Israel announced it would impose a 14 day quarantine on all people entering the country.

But the harshest measures in Europe have been in Italy, where the country’s prime minister yesterday announced that the entire country, some 60 million people, would be locked down.

China, where the outbreak began, reported just 19 new cases yesterday and appears to be bringing the virus under control.

Two dead in Szymankowo railway accident

Two men died yesterday in a railway accident near Malbork.

In the early hours of yesterday morning the men, who were both railway workers aged 56 and 61, were on the tracks near the town of Szymanowkowo between Tczew and Malbork.

It’s believed that a locomotive collided with the draisine the men were riding, killing both.

The accident meant the line between Tricity and Warsaw was impassible for several hours yesterday morning with passenger services heavily affected.

It is not yet known exactly how the accident happened and a commission is now understood to be investigating.

Central bank lowers growth forecast amid global slowdown

The National Bank of Poland has revised down its growth forecast for the Polish economy in 2020.

The NBP said it predicts growth of 3.2% in 2020 and 3.1% in 2021.

Back in November, the bank predicted growth of 3.6% this year but said the slowing global economy and the impact of the virus would slow growth.

Anna Walentynowicz named Woman of the Year 1980

Time magazine has named Polish solidarity heroine Anna Walentynowicz as its Woman of the Year for 1980.

Described as the „mother of Polish independence”, Walentynowicz was one of the most crucial figures of the Solidarity movement. She and her colleagues at the Gdansk Shipyard were instrumental in creating the first free trade unions in communist Europe and ultimately played a major role in the fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc.

Time magazine wrote about Walentynowicz as part of its new series of Women of the Year for the last 100 years, a new take on the long-standing Man of the Year.

Other Women of the Year include Hillary Clinton 2016, J. K. Rowling 1998, Jacqueline Kennedy 1962, and the Suffragist movement in 1920.

RG/TAH