"If this is going to be the new normal, if the virus doesn't go away any time soon, then we will begin to see the rise of digital sport and sports that are played out online."

That was Simon Chadwick, and you can read the rest of his interview with CGTN Europe below.

COVID-19 is still dominating headlines, and perhaps even more so now that the World Health Organization has finally decided to declare the virus a pandemic. 

The main story of the day is a shocking announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that sent global stocks crashing. The UK's FTSE 100 was particularly hard-hit, suffering its biggest one-day loss since 1987 and the second biggest in its history, wiping more than $200 billion off the blue-chip index.

Trump announced that the U.S. will ban travel from Europe for 30 days in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. This decision, which came as a surprise to European leaders, also sent oil prices plunging.

In the world of sport, as the number of athletes infected with COVID-19 rises, more games are being canceled or pushed back, causing damage to sales and upset among fans. Even the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are facing uncertainty now, with the Olympic torch lighting ceremony being held behind closed doors in Greece.

But while countries and businesses are feeling the sting of COVID-19, with more than half of German companies suffering negative effects from the virus, Apple's major manufacturing partner Foxconn has said the resumed production at its factories in China has "exceeded expectations" after a long halt due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In other news, oil and gas giant Total announced it is planning to build the biggest battery storage facility in France, as the conglomerate continues to push into power sectors.

And, finally, if you want to keep up to date with the latest COVID-19 news across Europe – not just to do with business – do sign up to our dedicated daily COVID-19 bulletin here: http://eepurl.com/gVGUJj

Enjoy, 

Arij Limam

Digital producer

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U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement to ban travel from Europe to his country for 30 days to stem the spread of COVID-19, sent shockwaves through Europe and threatened to disrupt the world economy. Global stocks plunged including those in European airlines, which dropped as much as 20 percent, and oil prices, which fell more than five percent.

The European Central Bank on Thursday approved fresh stimulus measures to help the eurozone economy cope with the growing cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, but kept interest rates unchanged in a move that may disappoint financial markets.

China auto makers called on the government for help after sales across the industry plunged 79 percent in February – the biggest ever monthly decline – due to lower demand amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Hong Kong firm Swire Pacific is expecting losses in its first-half report this year as its airline and retail assets suffer from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The company's chairman Merlin Swire said Cathay Pacific Airways, one of the group's biggest assets, was one of the most heavily impacted.

Energy giant Total said on Thursday it will invest about 15 million euros ($17 million) to construct the largest battery storage facility in France, which would support the stability of the country's electricity supply and help boost the growth of intermittent renewable power in the country.

Munich's Ifo institute said that more than half of German companies are suffering negative effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, with tourism and hospitality included in the list of the worst-hit industries.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money is driving increased financial inclusion, allowing anyone with a phone and a SIM card to save and transfer money without having to hold a bank account. Competitors in the mobile money market are now working together to create an interconnected payment ecosystem.

Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil conglomerate, Saudi Aramco, has refused to give additional bargain-priced crude for April to at least three Asian refiners, despite a recent pledge to increase supplies to a new record, sources told Reuters. The refiners, which included one Korean and one Chinese, requested the oil after steep price cuts announced by Aramco at the weekend.

The founder of Apple's major manufacturing partner Foxconn, Terry Gou, said on Thursday that resumed production at its factories in China had "exceeded expectations" after a sustained halt due to the COVID-19 outbreak that had disrupted supply chains.

Carnival Corp's Princess Cruises, the operator of two ships hit by COVID-19 outbreaks, said on Thursday it would the suspend global operations of its 18 cruise ships for two months due to the virus. The cruise line said the suspension was out of abundance of caution.

CGTN correspondent Toni Waterman brings us the latest from Brussels after the EU said it 'disapproves' the U.S. flight ban which sent markets crashing.

Simon Chadwick, a professor of Sport Business Strategy and Marketing, spoke to CGTN Europe about COVID-19's latest impact on sports.

After a Juventus footballer tested positive for COVID-19 and Europa League matches being played behind closed doors, what else needs to happen for UEFA to make the decision to cancel tournaments?

Well, the interesting thing is that we understand there are some Premier League players also now being tested for coronavirus. So, I think on the field there's an issue about transmission as an issue, too, and about ultimately how many available players will teams have. But alongside that, we also have the issue of playing behind closed doors without a crowd.

And as we saw last night with the Paris Saint-Germain vs Borussia Dortmund game in Paris, even if UEFA goes ahead, playing games behind closed doors, large numbers of people are congregating outside stadiums and therefore the threat of transmission remains. So, I think everything is beginning to converge for UEFA right now, and it's really beginning to compel UEFA to take a very quick position on all of this. And one can see ultimately that there may well be cancelation.

Will the Euro 2020 tournament go ahead, what's your best guess?

The big problem in all of this is that if you begin to postpone the Europa League and Champions League games and you've got leading matches throughout Europe being postponed, that bumps everything backwards – then, of course, you're running games up against Euro 2020.

If you then begin to think about what do we do with Euro 2020 when it then begins to back up against the Olympic Games.. and then very soon after that, the new football season starts. And, so, essentially UEFA is running out of room. It's running out of wiggle room and it's running out of time.

And I think rather than prevaricate and let things go on for a long time, what UEFA seems to want to do is to be decisive, assertive and take a decision now rather than cause problems later. 

Well, you mentioned the Olympic Games. The IOC was adamant the Olympic Games would be going ahead. How likely does it seem now that they will inevitably be affected? 

The IOC will take until the very, very last minute before they make a decision, because as you might imagine, there is a huge amount at stake, multi-billion dollars worth of contracts and deals and relationships, obviously training schedules for professional athletes that have been in place for a year or more.

And so the IOC, I think, will do whatever it takes, whatever is possible to try to make sure this event goes ahead. Maybe in Tokyo, maybe there might be a different way of doing this. We understand that there is provision in the host city contract for the event to take place next year. 

But, again, I think the IOC want it to take place, but at the same time they want to bring some clarity. And so I would suspect that given the fast-moving nature of what we're now beginning to see, some time during March, possibly the beginning of April, at the very latest, we will have some kind of definitive decision from the IOC.

Is 2020 simply going to be a short-term disaster for sport? Or do you think we're going to see long-term structural changes? Perhaps this is the opportunity to see much more in terms of streaming events?

My view has always been that the bigger teams, the bigger clubs, the bigger events, they are financially more robust. Very often they have contingency plans in place. And so, while they will suffer a shock, they will recover and they will return to normal at some stage.

What I'm more concerned about are smaller organizations, particularly those organizations that are drawing a large proportion of their revenues from ticket sales. So they need people going through gates. 

But clearly what we have here, if this is going to be the new normal, if the virus doesn't go away any time soon, then we will begin to see, I think, the rise for instance of digital sport and sports that are played out online, where you don't need physical contact, where you can be remote.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, has released figures for industrial growth in Europe in January 2020. Estimates show that in January 2020 compared with December 2019, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 2.3 percent in the euro area (EA19) and by 2.0 percent in the EU27.