Crashing stock markets, plunging oil prices and growth grinding to a halt -- the economic and financial crisis sparked by the novel coronavirus pandemic in figures: On Wall Street, the key Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone through a series of black sessions, plunging by around 23 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock market crisis deepened after US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a 30-day ban on entry by citizens from mainland Europe due to the coronavirus. European bourses have fallen even more, with Frankfurt, London, Paris, Madrid and Milan all down around 30 percent since the start of 2020. To combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, the US Federal Reserve on March 4 announced a surprise 0.5 point cut in its interest rates. The Bank of England (BoE) on March 11 announced a similar move, its biggest since the 2008 financial crisis. On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) left key interest rates unchanged, opting instead for fresh stimulus to keep credit flowing. Air links suspended, travellers terrified and events cancelled: the coronavirus pandemic could cost the air transport sector more than $100 billion, plunging the sector into a crisis "almost without precedent," according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Italy will register zero growth this year in the best scenario, according to the OECD's chief economist, Laurence Boone. Italy is the most affected country in Europe by the pandemic, with more than 15,000 infections and more than 1,000 deaths, according to the last toll published Thursday. The price of a barrel of "light sweet crude", the reference oil in the United States, which plunged to $31.00 on Thursday, down from just over $61 at the start of the year. Apart from the economic hit of the coronavirus, the price plunge has been aggravated by the price war launched by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two major players in the OPEC oil cartel. Sports equipment maker Adidas expects losses of between 800 million and one billion euros in its turnover in China in the first quarter due to the coronavirus. Sales of cars in China, the world's biggest market for the product, collapsed by 78.4 percent in February, year-on-year. mw/jmy/jh