By Gina Lee, Peter Nurse and Kim Khan
Investing.com - Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be working on a Covid-19 testing/tracing program for New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Spain set to ease coronavirus containment measures in the second half of May.
South Korea will create a 40 trillion won ($32.44 billion) fund to support corporate liquidity, including through guarantees.
Americas:
U.S. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Michael Bloomberg volunteered to develop a tri-state testing program. “(I)t will be expensive, challenging (and) require an army of tracers. But it must be done,” Cuomo tweeted.
U.S. Cuomo said total hospitalizations and incubations are still declining. The state saw 474 deaths from the virus yesterday, down from 481 the day before.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield told The Washington Post there’s a possibility “the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult” with “the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time”.
But President Donald Trump tweeted that Redfield had been “totally misquoted” and said another statement would be provided.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it is likely most if not all of the U.S. economy will be open by late summer.
Europe:
Spain plans to begin winding down the coronavirus lockdown measures in the second half of May, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
Restrictions will be eased slowly and gradually to ensure safety, Sanchez said at a parliamentary session where he will ask lawmakers to extend Spain's state of emergency until May 9. The lockdown was first enforced in Spain on March 14.
Germany Confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 2,237 to 145,694, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday, marking a second consecutive day of new infections accelerating. The reported death toll rose by 281 to 4,879.
France Youths clashed with police overnight in suburbs around Paris, the French media reported on Wednesday, the latest outbreak of trouble as strict lockdown rules to tackle the coronavirus heightened social tensions.
Netherlands The Dutch government is set to ease its coronavirus containment measures, allowing primary school children to go back to school part time starting May 11. Class sizes and school hours will be cut in half, with students spending the other 50% of their time doing "distance learning," the government said.
Poland The number of people infected with the new coronavirus exceeded 10,000 on Wednesday, with the death toll reaching 404, the country’s Health Ministry said on its Twitter account.
U.K. A potential coronavirus vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford will be trialled on people from Thursday, health secretary Matt Hancock said Tuesday.
Russia recorded 5,236 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide tally to 57,999, the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said on Wednesday. Fifty-seven people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 513, it said.
Asia:
South Korea will create a KRW 40 trillion fund to provide liquidity and payment guarantees to companies, President Jae-In Moon said after emergency meetings on the economy earlier in the day. An existing program will be expanded by KRW 35 trillion won and KRW 10 trillion will be used to help stabilize employment.
Japan Tokyo’s Governor Yuriko Koike said the metropolitan government is considering measures to reduce crowding at supermarkets, such as limiting the number of customers or social distancing measures in the checkout lines, to decrease the risk of spreading the virus.
Japan A member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee has tested positive for the new coronavirus.
China The aviation regulator said on Wednesday daily transported air passenger numbers rose 7.9% this month, as of April 21, from March, but was only at 29% of the level seen a year ago, in a sign of how the sector's recovery remains fragile.
Australia Retail sales soared by the most on record in March, up 8.2%, as households embarked on a buying frenzy, led by massive purchases of toilet paper, ahead of an expected lockdown to contain the coronavirus.