Rolling updates on the latest developments and headlines from around the world on the Covid-19 pandemic.
By Gina Lee, Peter Nurse and Kim Khan
3:22 PM ET: Administration Looking for Stimulus Without Congress – NBC
The White House is considering measures it can take to stimulate the U.S. economy that would not require legislation, including an additional delay in the tax filing deadline and a moratorium on new regulations, NBC reported.
12:50 PM ET: Michigan Manufacturing Set to Resume
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expected to announce that the state’s factories can reopen soon, removing one of the last major obstacles to North American automakers bringing thousands of laid-off employees back to work.
12:10 PM ET: White House Shelved CDC Guidelines
The White House shelved a step-by-step guide prepared by the Centers of Disease Control to help states safely reopen mass transit, restaurants, daycare centers and other public places closed by the coronavirus pandemic to avoid giving “overly prescriptive” advice, an administration official told Reuters.
11:51 AM ET: Pelosi Outlines Democratic Plans for Bill
House Speaker Pelosi said the next coronavirus response bill's major components will include additional aid to state and local governments, more money for coronavirus testing and help for the financially-troubled U.S. Postal Service.
11:40 AM ET: White House Valet Tests Positive; Trump, Pence Negative
President Trump and Vice President Pence have tested negative for coronavirus after finding out a member of the U.S. military who worked on the White House campus had become infected. The military official was identified by CNN as personal valet to Trump.
11:00 AM ET: House GOP Sets up China Task Force
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Republicans have set up a task force to look into how China handled Covid-19 and invited Democrats to join.
07:47 AM ET: European coalition takes shape on coronavirus contact tracing
A European coalition is forming around an approach to using smartphone technology to trace coronavirus infections that, its backers hope, could help to reopen borders without unleashing a second wave of the pandemic.
05:12 AM ET: Norway's central bank delivers surprise interest rate cut to zero
Norges Bank delivered an unexpected interest rate cut to zero, as policy makers in Norway react to the combined fallout from the Covid-19 crisis and the collapse of oil prices.
The deposit rate was cut by a quarter point to the lowest ever in Norway. The bank said its decision was unanimous, but also signaled it didn’t want to reduce rates further.
04:44 AM ET: Japan's state of emergency could be lifted early in some area - Minister
Japan's state of emergency over the novel coronavirus could be lifted early in some areas of the country that have seen declines in new infections, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Thursday.
Nishimura told a news conference it was possible the emergency would be removed for some areas around May 14. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe extended the nationwide state of emergency until May 31.
04:26 AM ET: German industry output falls at record pace in March
German industry output plunged 9.2% in March, its fastest decline since current records began in 1991, data showed on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand for goods from Europe's biggest economy.
04:22 AM ET: Russia posts record rise in coronavirus cases
Russia on Thursday reported 11,231 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a record daily rise that pushed the national case total to 177,160.
Russia's coronavirus taskforce said 88 people had died overnight, bringing the coronavirus death toll to 1,625. Moscow, the worst-hit area, also reported a record overnight case increase of 6,703 new cases.
04:19 AM ET: World food prices slump in April - UN
World food prices fell for a third consecutive month in April, hit by the economic and logistical impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals,oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 165.5 points last month, down 3.4% on March.
03:33 AM ET: ECB calls for more fiscal policy help to support recovery
The euro zone economy is facing a deep recession amid the coronavirus pandemic and greater cooperation is needed in fiscal policy to support the recovery, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday.
"It is thus vital that the fiscal response to this crisis is sufficiently forceful, in all parts of the euro area," de Guindos told the European Parliament's committee on economic and monetary affairs. There now needs to be a political agreement to build the appropriate instruments for this common response.
02:36 AM ET: Poland postpones Sunday's presidential election
The leader of Poland's governing party and a partner in its governing coalition announced an agreement late on Wednesday to postpone Sunday's presidential election, without setting a new date for the poll.
The decision brought some clarity to a chaotic situation that left Poles uncertain about whether they would be casting votes this weekend. The May 10 date had been set months ago, but the coronavirus pandemic and a government-ordered lockdown threw preparations into disarray.
02:16 AM ET: Russia's services PMI slumped to record low in April
Russian services sector activity dived to a record low in April as emergency restrictions to limit the impact of the coronavirus pandemic closed businesses and caused demand to plummet, a business survey showed on Thursday.
The Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for services fell to 12.2 in April from 37.1 in March, far below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction and its lowest reading since the survey began in October 2001.
01:41 AM ET: German industry expects unprecedented collapse in production - Ifo
Germany's industrial sector is expecting an unprecedented collapse in production, the Ifo institute said on Thursday, as it announced its index for this sector hit its lowest level since reunification.
Ifo said its index for industrial output in the coming three months in Europe's largest economy fell to -51.4 points in April, down from -21.4 points in March. That compared with -42.9 points in December 2008, during the global financial crisis.
00:51 AM ET: China's exports unexpectedly rose in April
China's exports unexpectedly rose in April for the first time this year, taking some pressure off manufacturers in the world's second-largest economy.
Overseas shipments in April rose 3.5% from a year earlier, marking the first positive growth since December last year, customs data showed on Thursday. That compared with a 15.7% drop tipped by a Reuters poll of economists and a 6.6% plunge in March.
11:03 PM ET: Japan set to approve remdesivir
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan looks set to approve Gilead Sciences' (NASDAQ:GILD) antiviral drug remdesivir to fight Covid-19.
11:01 PM ET: Philippines economy reports contraction
The Philippines reported its first economic contraction since 1998. Gross domestic product fell 0.2% in the first quarter year-on-year, with 2018 as the new base year.
10:15 PM ET: China mulls giving GDP target a miss
China is considering the option of not setting a target for economic growth for 2020 due to Covid-19's economic impact. It could use a description of the goal for gross domestic product growth as a substitute and will announce a decision during the National People’s Congress later in the month.
10:11 PM ET: Trump does about-take on Covid-19 taskforce
U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that the Covid-19 taskforce will continue “indefinitely”, a day after the White House suggested that it would be wound down.
10:07 PM ET: WHO could investigate Covid-19 origin as Pompeo admits “no certainty” over U.S. Wuhan lab claims
The World Health Organization could send a mission to China to find the zoologic source of Covid-19. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo renewed Sunday’s claims that the virus originated in a Wuhan lab but acknowledged there was no certainty.
10:00 PM ET: Johnson says UK could loosen lockdown next week
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said overnight that the country's weeks-long lockdown could be eased as early as next week, adding that he would not take measures that risked a surge in new cases.
09:50 PM ET: Italy sees highest number of most deaths, new cases in days after loosening lockdown
Italy reported the highest number of new cases in four days on Wednesday, with 1,444 cases recorded over the 24-hour period compared with 1,075 cases the day before. Fatalities also rose from 236 on Tuesday to 369 on Wednesday.
Italy loosened some of its strict lockdown measures on Monday and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte continues to battle tensions within his coalition over a new stimulus package to kickstart the paralysed economy.
Johns Hopkins University data said that Italy had a total of 214,457 cases and 29,684 deaths as of May 7.
09:47 AM ET: Brazil’s daily new cases and deaths reach a record high
Brazil said that there were 10,503 new Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country over the last 24 hours. This is a record high, and well above the previous record of 7,288 cases on April 30 according to health ministry data. Deaths also rose by 615, also a new high compared with the 600 recorded on Tuesday.
The numbers prompted Brazil’s health minister to warn of potential strict lockdowns in the badly affected areas.
Brazil had a total of 126,611 cases and 8,588 deaths as of May 7, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.