Global coronavirus cases hit one million, deaths surpass 50,000
Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have swelled over one million while death records have also hit 50,000.
Currently, the United States reported the highest daily death toll of any country so far.
With all forms of lockdown adopted across the globe to curb the spread of the virus, the economic cost of the pandemic is getting starker.
The virus has continued to claim lives at an alarming pace, with the US, Spain and Britain all seeing their worst days yet.
In the United States, an extra 6.65 million Americans signed on for unemployment benefit last week, taking to 10 million the number of people in the US who lost their jobs in the last two weeks of March.
And economists warned it was going to get worse.
“No words for this,” said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
“Total layoffs between the March and April payroll surveys look destined to reach perhaps 16 to 20 million, consistent with the unemployment rate leaping to 13 to 16 percent. In one month.”
Financial ratings agency Fitch on Thursday predicted that the US and eurozone economies would shrink this quarter by up to 30 percent as struggling businesses slash investment and unemployment dampens consumer spending.
The Asian Development Bank warned Friday the global economy could take a $4.1 trillion hit from the virus — equivalent to five percent of worldwide output.
World leaders have announced huge financial aid packages to deal with the crisis and the World Bank on Thursday approved a plan to roll out $160 billion in emergency cash over 15 months.
The United States now accounts for around a quarter of all known infections around the globe, and its death toll is rocketing up.
About 6,000 people have died in the US outbreak, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, more than 1,100 of them in the last day.
White House experts say between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could ultimately die from the disease.
Disaster response agency FEMA on Thursday asked the US military for 100,000 body bags.
Around 85 percent of Americans are under some form of stay-at-home order.
In New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to cover their faces when outside and Vice President Mike Pence said there would be a recommendation on the use of masks by the general public in the next few days.
