"Europe must prove its political effectiveness... I think there will be a before and after the coronavirus in the history of the global economy." 

That was Bruno Le Maire, France's finance minister, discussing how Europe needs to act together as Italy takes extreme action to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Across Europe, there has been turmoil as sporting events and public occasions – including funerals and weddings – are canceled. Today, the Dublin city council even confirmed the city's St Patrick's Day parade on 17 March will not happen in 2020. 

"Europe must prove its political effectiveness... I think there will be a before and after the coronavirus in the history of the global economy." 

That was Bruno Le Maire, France's finance minister, discussing how Europe needs to act together as Italy takes extreme action to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Across Europe, there has been turmoil as sporting events and public occasions – including funerals and weddings – are canceled. Today, the Dublin city council even confirmed the city's St Patrick's Day parade on 17 March will not happen in 2020.

And even the continent's premier financial authority is taking steps to prepare for a possible further spread of COVID-19 - ECB employees were asked to "telework," or work from home as most of us would say. 

Elsewhere, markets baulked at the breakdown of OPEC talks, and the price of oil collapsed to a four-year low. The rout even stopped the New York Stock Exchange, by triggering its emergency mechanism by dropping 7 percent after the Opening Bell. 

But in happier news, IKEA is going to reopen nine stores across China and Shanghai Disneyland is planning to reopen gradually over the next weeks. 

Happy reading, 

Patrick Atack 
Digital business correspondent 

A U.S. court has confirmed it has fined China's Hytera Communications $764 million for stealing Motorola Solutions' trade secrets and infringement on copyrights owned by its competitor.

The Chinese firm that owns LGBT dating app Grindr has reached a deal to sell the company for $608.5 million. U.S. regulators have pushed for the sale over national security concerns.

Germany unveiled a package of measures to help businesses hit by the coronavirus outbreak and reduce rising unemployment in the country. The German government also announced an additional €12.4bn ($14.2bn) will be spent on public investment between 2021 and 2024.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, will hold a policy meeting on Thursday to decide how the ECB will respond to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the eurozone economy, where many economists fear a possible future recession. Today, the central bank asked its more than 3,500 employees to work from home to see how the institution would cope amid a coronavirus outbreak.

Oil prices crashed by 30 percent as the global market opened on Sunday evening. Brent crude hit a four-year low of around $30 a barrel as a result of Saudi Arabia's price war, following the implosion of OPEC's alliance with Russia.  

IKEA will reopen nine more stores in China in addition to the five reopened last week. The Swedish furniture company has shut down all its 30 stores in the country in January.

Banque de France announced that the French economy will grow slightly in the first quarter, avoiding recession. But the French central bank still warned against the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Japanese government will announce on Tuesday how it will boost its special financing for coronavirus-hit firms. Documents show that the previously announced financing will be increased to up to $16 billion.

Apple sold fewer than than 500,000 smartphones in China in February after the Apple stores were closed for at least two weeks in the country and Chinese citizens were asked to avoid public places in late January. 

Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, said it is "unclear whether coronavirus has a longer-term economic impact," only hours after the German government had agreed on a plan to support the country's economy.

China's Jingye says it will save more than 3,000 jobs at British Steel in Scunthorpe and Teesside, as well as modernize its steelworks, after the company collapsed and went into insolvency last year. 

Shanghai Disney resort announced today the first stage of a "phased reopening," with several areas returning to activity, despite the main park remaining shut indefinitely. Shanghai Disneyland has been closed for six weeks after the coronavirus outbreak took hold. Disney parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong have also closed over recent weeks as the virus has spread. 

China's biggest drug distributor, Sinopharm, said it expects its first-quarter performance to "decline significantly" compared with last year in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange that warned on profits. The company said its net profit declined by 50 percent in January and February compared with the same period the year before. 

Redmi a sub-brand of Chinese tech company Xiaomi, has announced it is ready to mass produce in-display fingerprint readers for LCD panels. Technical limitations, until now, have forced brands to put in-display fingerprint readers on OLED panels alone, thereby increasing cost. The breakthrough could entail relatively more affordable LCD-toting smartphones with in-display fingerprint scanning tech. 
 

Stefan de Vries reports from Paris on how the fashion industry has been affected by COVID-19 and its knock-on effect on supply chains. 

Following Jingye's buy-out of British Steel, Gareth Stace, director-general of the lobby group UK Steel, spoke to CGTN Europe about what the sale means for the UK and the firm's employees.

I want to ask you about Jingye Group because it's fascinating. It's actually not a Chinese state-owned group. Tell us more about it. 

Well, Jingye in China wouldn't be one of the most significant or biggest players, but compared with the UK, it's massive. And, therefore, today's news of the completion of the sale or the purchase of British Steel by Jingye is enormously welcome, because it's a company that is going to be backed by huge investments and a promise of that investment over the 10-year period, which is exactly what British Steel, its workers, their families, British Steel's customers ... and, actually indeed, not just British Steel itself, but the whole sector, needs that certainty. There is hope for the future, which we haven't had for a year, if not more. 

There has been a lot of uncertainty for more than a year. There are a lot of pressures on the industry in general. How significant is it that the deal is done for the sector? 

Hugely significant. And, you know, my thanks really to the government as well for standing by the business since May last year. But, there is a but here... the government now needs to recognize that we mustn't be in the same place, with another steel company in the UK going into liquidation in the future. And, therefore, the government has a job to do now to ensure that we have a competitive business landscape here in the UK. Cheaper energy prices, we pay some of the most expensive energy prices in Europe. That is not good for our business. So we need the government to step in now, help our sector and make sure that we have a sustainable sector, not just British Steel, but for us all for the future. 

There's also another element now, which is the outbreak of COVID-19. So that has obviously hugely disrupted global industries far and wide. What do you think the impact is going to be on the steel-making sector? 

Well, it certainly will have an impact going forward. And I think it's very difficult to understand how that will manifest itself. Will there be a glut of steel on the global markets and therefore depressing the price of steel? But one thing from my point of view, from a UK point of view, is certain that it shows the value of having a domestic steel-producing sector here in the UK. If we didn't have that and then the virus spread rapidly, we'd be at the mercy of those global markets. So, hence another reason why Jingye buying British Steel today is so good news for the British steel sector. 

What would you like from the UK budget that's coming up? You said the sector wants the government to take some action to help UK sales.

In a nutshell, yep. So, we want action on energy prices, on business rates and also on R&D to help us modernize the sector and improve and get us fit for the future.  

Around 25 percent of Italy's population is in lockdown, as the Rome government tries to slow down the outbreak of COVID-19. Watching how businesses react to the lockdown will be interesting – will delivery apps boom?