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
4:06 PM ET: Trump Says China May Not Keep Trade Deal
President Trump said he would be able to report in about a week or two on whether China is fulfilling its obligations under a Phase-1 trade deal the two countries signed in January. Trump told reporters China may or may not keep the trade deal.
3:30 PM ET: Trump Confirms Task Force Running Indefinitely
President Trump said that the White House coronavirus task force was surprisingly popular and would continue and would be adding “two or three” people. “It is appreciated by the public,” Trump told reporters, according to CNN. “When you look at the job we’ve done on everything.”
“We’ll be leaving the task force indefinitely, we’ll see at a certain point that will end like things end.”
11:50 AM ET: White House Task Force in Dark – CNN
Members of the White House coronavirus task force are unsure what’s happening next after President Trump tweeted that the group would go on “indefinitely”, CNN reported, citing a source close to the task force.
11:40 AM ET: New Cases in New York Still a Problem
New York Governor Andrew said new cases of Covid-19 and hospitalizations are declining in the state, but the number of new cases is still problematic, Briefing.com reported.
06:44 AM ET: US airports may need passengers to wear masks
The lead U.S. airport security agency is weighing the possibility of requiring masks or face coverings for passengers who pass through checkpoints, according to a U.S. official and two people familiar with the deliberations.
The move is part of a broader rethinking of how to limit the spread of the new coronavirus during air travel, an effort that could bring some of the most significant changes to the industry since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
05:15 AM ET: Retail sales slumped 11% in March, the largest decline on record
Retail sales in the euro zone suffered their largest decline on record in March as restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus were put in place and shoppers reduced their spending on everything except food and online orders.
Sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro zone fell by 11.2% in March from February and by 9.2% year-on-year, EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Wednesday.
05:03 AM ET: UK draws up three-stage plan to reopen - Times newspaper
The United Kingdom has drawn up a three-stage plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown that was first imposed at the end of March, The Times newspaper said.
The first phase will involve small shops reopening alongside outdoor workplaces and the second will involve large shopping centres reopening, with more people encouraged to go into work, The Times said. Pubs, restaurants, hotels and leisure centres will be among the last to open.
04:58 AM ET: UK construction industry shrinks at fastest pace in more than two decades
The U.K. construction industry shrank at its fastest pace in more than two decades in April as the coronavirus lockdown halted projects.
IHS Markit said its gauge of activity fell to 8.2 last month from 39.3 in March, the lowest since data were first collected in 1997. It’s the first time the index has been in single digits, with the previous low standing at 27.8 in February 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis.
04:13 AM ET: Italy's service sector shrank at fastest rate in more than 22 years in April
Italy's service sector shrank at the fastest rate in more than 22 years in April, as a lockdown imposed to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic shuttered most businesses.
The IHS Markit Business Activity Index for services dropped to 10.8 from 17.4 in March, plunging even further below the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction and posting easily the lowest reading since the survey began in January 1998.
04:01 AM ET: Russian cases increase by 10,000 for fourth consecutive day
The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia rose by 10,559 over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 165,929, the fourth consecutive day that cases had risen by more than 10,000.
It also reported 86 new fatalities from COVID-19, bringing the official death toll in Russia to 1,537.
03:19 AM ET: German federal states and government agree on way to ease lockdown - draft document
The German federal government and the states have agreed that all shops and amateur open-air sports can restart under certain conditions and states will each decide on a gradual opening of various aspects of public life, a draft document showed.
The paper seen by Reuters, dated late on May 5, was prepared by federal chancellery chief Helge Braun and the heads of the regional chancelleries for a telephone conference Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to hold with premiers of the 16 states later on Wednesday.
03:14 AM ET: UK's ONS has to adapt methods of collecting inflation data during the lockdown
The U.K.’s Office for National Statistics is turning to online prices and phone calls as it battles to collect inflation data amid the nation’s coronavirus lockdown.
Statisticians usually rely on a network of people across the country visiting stores each month to collect 80% of prices included, but shutdowns, social distancing and shortages have all meant that they have had to reconsider. Instead, prices will be gathered online or by phone and over a longer period, the ONS said Wednesday.
02:36 AM ET: German industrial orders slumped over 15% in March
Orders for German industrial goods dived 15.6% in March to their lowest level since records began in 1991, data showed on Wednesday, as the coronavirus slashed domestic and foreign demand for goods from Europe's biggest economy.
01:35 AM ET: India's services PMI slumps in April, suggesting the economy contracted 15%
India’s dominant services industries crashed last month, with the services purchasing managers index plunged by 43.9 points to 5.4 in April, hitting single digits for the first time, according to data published Wednesday by IHS Markit. The services sector makes up more than half of India’s gross domestic product.
With manufacturing activity also sharply down, the composite index plummeted to 7.2 from 50.6 in March, IHS Markit said, suggesting the economy contracted at an annual rate of 15% in April.
01:25 AM ET: Global lockdown could result in surge of TB cases
The global lockdown caused by Covid-19 risks a “devastating” surge in tuberculosis cases, with nearly 1.4 million additional deaths from the world’s biggest infectious killer by 2025, new research showed Wednesday.
TB, a bacterial infection that normally attacks patients’ lungs, is largely treatable yet still infects an estimated 10 million people every year, AFP reports. But social distancing measures will make it impossible for health care workers to test vulnerable populations and for patients to access ongoing treatments.
01:19 AM ET: Youth unemployment could reach 1 million mark in Britain
Youth unemployment in Britain will reach the 1 million mark over the coming year unless the government provides job guarantees or incentives for school leavers and graduates to stay on in education, a thinktank warned.
The Resolution Foundation said that in the absence of action an extra 600,000 people under the age of 25 would swell dole queues, with a risk of long-term damage to their career and pay prospects, adding to the 408,000 people in the 18-24 age group that the Office for National Statistics said were currently unemployed.
The thinktank’s report said the “corona class of 2020” – the 800,000 school leavers and graduates due shortly to join the labour market – was the most exposed age group to the likely unemployment surge caused by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
00:50 AM ET: Disney to try out reopening strategy at Shanghai Disneyland
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) will kick off its strategy next week to begin restoring its lucrative parks business that has suffered $1 billion in lost profits from the coronavirus-led shutdown.
Disney said on Tuesday it will reopen its Shanghai Disneyland park on May 11, but severely limit the number of guests and enforce strict social distancing measures on rides and in restaurants.
10:40 PM ET: White House mulls disbanding presidential Covid-19 task force
Vice President Mike Pence said the White House is discussing whether to disband the president’s Covid-19 task force, possibly as soon as May 25.
The move comes as Pence said that the task force accomplished its goal of containing the virus as the outbreak in the U.S. slows and some states reopen after weeks-long lockdowns.
10:37 PM ET: Gilead to expand remdesivir production
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) is looking to expand manufacturing of its Covid-19 treatment remdesivir. The drug received FDA emergency use approval earlier in the week.
Gilead said in a blog post that it is talking with “some of the world’s leading chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies” about their ability to make the drug for Europe, Asia and the developing world through 2022.
It is also in talks with Indian and Pakistani manufacturers about manufacturing and licensing the drug for developing markets.
10:34 PM ET: Argentina to get $4 billion Development Bank of Latin America loan
Argentina secured a $4 billion loan from the Development Bank of Latin America, with the funds to be used to tackle the economic impact of the virus.
DBLA will distribute the funds over four years.