BEIJING —
Bleak figures from the world’s two largest economies underscore how quickly the coronavirus is delivering a massive economic blow.
China on Friday reported GDP shrank 6.8% from a year ago in the quarter ending March, its worst contraction since before market-style economic reforms began in 1979. And in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, the ranks of the unemployed swelled toward levels last seen during the Great Depression.
Still, the economic data from China was not as bad as some had feared, prompting shares in Asia to surge. That was after Wall Street also rose, powered by buying of Amazon, health care stocks and other market niches that are thriving in the coronavirus crunch.
The recovery for workers is likely to take a long time, however. Some forecasters earlier said China might rebound as early as this month, but they have been cutting growth forecasts and pushing back recovery timelines as negative trade, retail sales and other data pile up.
The U.S. government reported 5.2 million more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the four-week total to 22 million easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record. The losses translate to about 1 in 7 American workers.
South Korea on Friday reported its worst jobless figures in more than a decade, with almost 200,000 fewer people working in March than in the same month a year earlier.
President Donald Trump reacted to the pressure on the economy by outlining a phased approach to reopening parts of the country where the pandemic is being brought under control.
He told the nations governors that restrictions could be eased to allow businesses to reopen over the next several weeks in places that have extensive testing and a marked decrease in COVID-19 cases.
We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time, Trump said, adding that his new guidelines give governors the freedom to act as they see fit.
His comments marked an abrupt change after a week in which he clashed with governors over his claim that he had total authority over how and when the country reopens.
Worldwide, the outbreak has infected more than 2.1 million people and killed more than 144,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, though the true numbers are believed to be much higher. The death toll in the U.S. topped 33,000, with more than 670,000 confirmed infections.
China raised its death toll to over 4,600 after the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak first took hold, added nearly 1,300 deaths. State media said the undercount was due to insufficient admission capabilities at overwhelmed medical facilities. Questions have long swirled around the accuracy of Chinas case reporting, with some saying officials sought to minimize the outbreak.
The spread of the virus is declining in such places as Italy, Spain and France, but rising or continuing at a high level in Britain, Russia and Turkey, authorities said. Singapore reported a record daily high of 728 new cases as it ramped up its testing at dormitories crammed with foreign workers.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the economic impacts of the pandemic were putting many of the worlds children in jeopardy, and urged families and leaders everywhere to help protect them.
The U.N. chief said in a video statement that the lives of children were being “totally upended by COVID-19, with almost all students out of school, family stress levels rising as communities face lockdowns, and reduced household income expected to force poor families to cut back on essential health and food expenditures, which would affect children in particular.
In China, retail spending, which accounted for 80% of economic growth last year, plunged 19% in the first quarter from a year earlier, below most forecasts. Investment in factories, real estate and other fixed assets, the other major growth driver, sank 16.1%.
Factories and other businesses were allowed to reopen even as the United States and Europe tightened controls. Cinemas, hair salons and other enterprises that are deemed nonessential but employ millions of people are still closed, and tourism is struggling to recover.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin postponed the grand Victory Day parade on May 9 in Red Square marking the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germanys defeat in World War II. Since Soviet times, Victory Day has been the nations most important holiday, reflecting wartime losses put at more than 27 million dead.
New York, the most lethal hot spot in the U.S., reported more encouraging signs, with a drop in the daily number of deaths statewide and the overall count of people in the hospital.
Weve controlled the beast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Still, Cuomo extended the states lockdown through at least May 15. New York City is lining up 11,000 empty hotel rooms to quarantine people living in crowded apartment buildings.
In New Jersey, police acting on an anonymous tip found at least 18 bodies over two days at a nursing home in Andover Township that were waiting to be picked up by a funeral home.
Economists said U.S. unemployment could reach 20% in April, the highest since the Depression of the 1930s. Layoffs are spreading well beyond stores, restaurants and hotels to white-collar professionals such as software programmers and legal assistants.
Lifting of restrictions, when it happens, wont be like flipping a switch. Restaurants and other businesses may be reopened in phases, with perhaps a limited number of entrances or reduced seating areas, while supermarkets may stick with one-way aisles and protective shields at the cash registers, experts say.
It might be back to normal for everyone else, but people still dont feel comfortable gathering at restaurants and bars, said Jeremiah Juncker, manager of the Rappourt pub in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Many European countries, like the U.S., have seen heavy job losses, but places like Germany and France are using government subsidies to keep millions of people on payrolls.
Italys hard-hit Lombardy region is pushing to restart manufacturing in early May, while Britain extended restrictions at least three more weeks. Switzerland announced staggered re-openings.
The transition is beginning, Swiss Home and Health Minister Alain Berset said. We want to go as fast as possible, and as slow as necessary.
Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this report.
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