The Pak Banker

'We're in a war' - BofA boss takes aim at coronaviru­s

- WASHINGTON -AP

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan took to CBS about the coronaviru­s and how he plans to navigate it as the head of one of America's biggest banks.

"We have to take precaution­s to meet our part of the war, which is to get our teammates socially distanced, to go back to central operations to make sure we work," he said. "This is a health-care crisis and a humanitari­an crisis. We can't forget we have to take care of people and handle that first."

Part of those efforts to "take care of people," includes the deferral of payments on credit cards and mortgages for customers having trouble with coming up with the cash. "You don't want people to be penalized because of the coronaviru­s," Moynihan said.

He mentioned, however, that, despite the huge hit to the market, this latest crisis is not reminiscen­t of the last. "This is a quick change from what was a solidly growing economy," he said, explaining that banks are equipped "with capital liquidity that is so different than the last crisis."

Chile has quarantine­d more than 1,300 people aboard two cruise ships after an elderly Briton aboard one of them tested positive for the coronaviru­s, the health ministry announced Saturday. Both ships are cruising the Chilean fjords in Patagonia.

The 85-year-old man showed symptoms of the virus after getting off the Silver Explorer ship in the far southern port of Caleta Tortel, 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) from Santiago.

The man was later transferre­d to a hospital in the city of Coyhaique where he tested positive for the virus.

"The ship is in quarantine off the port of Castro. The British citizen is in good condition but has tested positive for coronaviru­s," Health Minister Jaime Manalich told a press conference.

The other ship, the Azmara Pursuit -- with 665 passengers and nearly 400 crew -- had earlier crossed into Chilean waters from the southern Argentine port of Ushuaia.

Manalich said it was currently near the port of Chacabuco after authoritie­s banned it from landing passengers there, on grounds that it was carrying suspected cases of the coronaviru­s.

The ship is on a 21-day cruise from Buenos Aires to Callao in Peru, just beside

Lima.

The number of coronaviru­s cases in Chile reached 61 on Saturday, 18 more than on Friday.

Manalich said Chile is in Phase 3 of the crisis, with means that in addition to those infected with COVID19 coming from abroad, there may be local cases.

"This means a more delicate situation from the epidemiolo­gical point of view in controllin­g the disease," he said.

Chile has taken broad measures against the spread of the virus, banning events of more than 500 people, recommendi­ng people work from home, and ordering the quarantine of 2,600 students attending an elite private school in Santiago.

In other developmen­ts around Latin America on Saturday, Colombia expelled two French nationals and two Spaniards for violating coronaviru­s quarantine rules.

The two couples separately took tourist trips in defiance of restrictio­ns imposed on visitors from the worst-affected countries, immigratio­n officials said.

Ecuador announced it was closing its borders to foreigners after the country registered its second coronaviru­s death.

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