Jobless claims in the U.S. jumped as countries around the world wrestle with how best to revive pandemic-closed economies, and as some Asian nations that seemed to have dodged the worst fallout from the new coronavirus are seeing jumps in infections and deaths.
Another 5.2 million Americans last week sought unemployment benefits since the novel coronavirus pandemic shut down large segments of the U.S. economy, raising the total for the month to more than 20 million.
President Trump said his administration would detail guidelines Thursday for reopening the U.S., where lockdowns have sent the economy into a deep downturn in recent weeks.
Business executives told Mr. Trump on a conference call Wednesday that a dramatic bump in coronavirus testing was needed before Americans could resume their usual lives, according to people familiar with the call. Many experts have said that such tests and restrictions are likely to be part of restarting any economy.
The Latest on the Coronavirus
- Confirmed cases world-wide have passed 2.07 million and deaths have risen past 138,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
- About a third of global infections are in the U.S., which has also logged more than 30,000 deaths.
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expanded a state of emergency to the whole country.
In New York, the hardest-hit U.S. state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was signing an executive order requiring people to wear a face covering when in a public setting where they can come into contact with others.
Globally, confirmed cases of the coronavirus passed 2.07 million and deaths from the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus topped 138,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. About a third of confirmed infections are in the U.S., which reported a record 2,569 deaths in the 24 hours ended at 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data.
Singapore, initially lauded for moving quickly to control initial outbreaks, confirmed 447 new cases of Covid-19 late Wednesday, its highest daily count to date.
The country’s Ministry of Health reported that most of the infections were among people living in foreign-worker dormitories, a population among whom the number of cases “has increased significantly.” The ministry added that it has been increasing its testing of these workers: About 200,000 people—mostly from South Asia and doing low-skilled work in industries such as construction—and live in close quarters in purpose-built dormitories in Singapore.
There have now been 3,699 cases and 10 deaths in the tightly controlled city-state.
Migrant workers in a Singapore dormitory that was declared an isolation area due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
Photo: Edgar su/ReutersA similar reversal appeared to be occurring in Iran. Although daily death rates have been declining there, hospitals in Tehran, the capital, have seen an uptick in patients with severe symptoms in recent days, according to Alireza Zali, head of the city’s committee to combat the coronavirus. He warned that the full consequences of the city’s high-density population and people’s disregard for social-distancing rules would show in about a month. Tehran has accounted for about one-third of the 4,869 Covid-19 deaths in the country.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abeexpanded a state of emergency to the whole country after the death toll reached a daily high of 17 on Wednesday, bringing the total to 136. Under Japanese law, the state of emergency doesn’t force any business to close, but has led many offices to institute work-from-home policies and caused stores to pull down their shutters.
A poll by Kyodo News released this week found 80% of Japanese people thought Mr. Abe’s decision earlier this month to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and other big cities came too late. The poll found Mr. Abe’s support rate slipped in the last three weeks to 40.4% from 45.5%.
In Italy, the heart of the pandemic in Europe, many critics have faulted regional and national authorities for the death toll in the Lombardy region, which has recorded 11,400 Covid-19 fatalities, more than three times China’s official tally.
Italian prosecutors have opened investigations into whether there was culpable negligence in specific deaths, such as in nursing homes. The inquiries are likely to lead to court cases that could drag on for years.
In France, an internal Defense Ministry review is looking into whether ministry officials rejected a request to summon home the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle after a sailor had tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-March. The carrier eventually cut short a mission and returned to base in Toulon on April 12 after several dozen more sailors had tested positive. The ministry said further testing revealed the virus had infected 688 of the 1,767 sailors on the vessel and a smaller frigate that accompanied it.
Amazon.com Inc. closed its six warehouses in France after a court this week temporarily forbade the company from shipping nonessential goods from there because of the risk to Amazon workers from the coronavirus. The e-commerce giant said the court judgment, which it is appealing, left too much ambiguity over what constitutes an essential good.
France remains in lockdown while other European countries begin to lift some restrictions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans Wednesday to gradually reopen the nation, even as it recorded 315 Covid-19 deaths, the first 24-hour count above 300.
Belgium on Thursday extended its lockdown to May 3, with some adjustments: People in nursing homes may now receive a single designated visitor who has been free of coronavirus symptoms for at least two weeks. To keep people busy and productive while confined to their homes, gardening centers and do-it-yourself stores will reopen, following similar social-distancing rules as grocery stores now use.
In China, where business activity is gradually resuming, the average price of a new home in 70 cities in March was up 0.12% from February, according to data released Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics, after no increase in February from January.
China reported 46 new coronavirus cases, 34 of them imported, and no new deaths as of midnight on Wednesday. It was the third straight day of slowing growth in imported cases, 16 of which were recorded in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang province. All were in Chinese citizens returning from Russia—the source of half of China’s imported infections since the start of April.
There have been more than 83,000 infections and more than 3,300 deaths in China, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The Tokyo commute Thursday, proceeding through a state of emergency.
Photo: charly triballeau/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesHong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said Thursday that passenger volume last month was down 90% from a year earlier, and that it anticipates an average daily passenger count this month of under 1,000—just 1% of normal.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said strict social-distancing measures and business closures would continue for four more weeks while the country develops its testing and contact-tracing capabilities. Australia is also working to bolster its ability to respond to local outbreaks such as one on the island state of Tasmania that closed two hospitals identified as hot spots and put about 5,000 people under quarantine.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Mexico’s debt for the second time in less than a year, lowering its rating by one notch to the lowest investment grade, saying it expects a severe recession this year due to the pandemic.
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Write to Newley Purnell at newley.purnell@wsj.com and Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com
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