By Gina Lee, Geoffrey Smith and Kim Khan
Investing.com - Social Distancing is working in New York state and the curve of the coronavirus is flattening, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his press conference Wednesday. In addition, a study followed by the White House revised its estimates of U.S. deaths lower again.
Cuomo said New York took dramatic action and social distancing is working and “flattening the curve”. Hospitalizations are also down, he added. But the state saw its highest daily death toll to date at 779.
The University of Washington Covid-19 forecasting model, which is used by the White House, revised expected U.S. deaths sharply downward to 60,400. The peak day of deaths is now expected to arrive on April 12, rather than April 16.
The U.S. death count is already lower than expected and a turnaround could come at the end of this week, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday. If social distancing and other measure are “successful, it makes sense to at least plan what a re-entry into normality would look like,” Fauci told Fox News.
Europe/Middle East/Africa
France's central bank expects the country's first-quarter GDP to fall 6% as a result of the outbreak, Bloomberg reported.
Germany's economy will shrink by 9.8% in the second quarter, its biggest decline since records began in 1970, according to a report by the country's leading research institutes.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in a 'stable' condition after spending a second night in intensive care, the BBC reported.
As of April 8, the number of reported cases globally stood at 1,431,900 with over 82,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data. The actual death toll is likely far higher, given that many countries are only counting hospital deaths.
Asia/Pacific:
S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Ratings downgraded Australia's sovereign outlook from stable to negative.
Wuhan lifted the lockdown on the city which had been in place since January 23. The city expects a mass exodus as airports, train stations and roads reopen.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally declared a state of emergency.
South Korea's President Moon Jae-In announced an additional 36 trillion won ($29.5 billion) worth of cheap loans for exporters hard hit by the virus.
At the same policy meeting with economic chiefs, Moon announced an additional stimulus package of 17.7 trillion won.