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in the previous day, there were 6,095 new deaths - nearly double all
fatalities in China, where the COVID-19 disease originated.
In a list based on officially-reported data, Italy leads with 13,915
deaths, followed by Spain with 10,935 deaths. But the United States
was becoming the new epicentre, with 243,635 cases - by far the most
of any nation - and 5,887 deaths.
Outside the West, China's epidemic has stabilized after draconian
containment measures and it was planning to mourn its "martyrs" on
Saturday with a three-minute silence.
The outbreak in badly-hit Iran still raged while it sparred with
traditional foe the United States on the geopolitical stage.
With Europe accounting for more than half of cases around the world,
France and Britain were also struggling to prop up health services
under massive strain.
Though the official figures were shocking enough, health experts and
even some governments acknowledge they do not capture the full
spread of the virus. It often goes undetected in people with minor
symptoms or none at all.
With airlines largely grounded, businesses closed, layoffs mounting
and millions of people at home under lockdowns, the economic fallout
was shaping into worse than the 2008 financial crisis.
Rather, comparisons were being drawn with such traumatic periods as
World War Two or the 1930s Global Depression.
DEPRESSING DATA
In the world's biggest economy, the U.S. government has pumped in
unprecedented aid, but still weekly jobless claims jumped to a
record 6.6 million - double the previous week that was also a first.
Morgan Stanley predicted the U.S. economy will shrink 5.5% this
year, the steepest drop since 1946.
European stocks sank further.
Morgues and hospitals in New York City struggled to treat or bury
casualties, as state governor Andrew Cuomo predicted similar misery
for the rest of the country.
Staff at one medical centre in Brooklyn were seen disposing of
gowns, caps and other protective wear in a sidewalk trash can after
loading bodies into a refrigerated truck.
Spain and Italy were also counting their daily dead, but prayed they
were plateauing as data at least showed a slowdown in daily
increases.
Some 900,000 Spanish workers have lost jobs.
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Criticised for unpreparedness, Britain promised a tenfold increase in testing.
That is crucial to enable frontline healthcare workers to carry on knowing they
are uninfected or potentially for people to return to work if they have had the
virus and gained immunity.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson's continued self-isolation, after testing
positive, was a reminder of the risk.
DISASTER FOR DEVELOPING WORLD
While prosperous Western nations are reeling, there is concern about potentially
far worse impact in nations already sturggling with poverty, insecurity and weak
health systems.
In Iraq, three doctors involved in the testing, a health ministry official and a
senior political official said there were thousands of cases of COVID-19, many
times more than publicly reported.
In India, many poor labourers were desperate after losing jobs in a three-week
lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Food was low in slums.
"I'm very sure that he works only for the big people and not for a man like me,"
said former Modi supporter Ravi Prasad Gupta, a worker laid off from a pipe
plant.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro further played down the pandemic, saying it
is "not all it's being made out to be" and denying that any hospital had reached
full capacity. But with his closest aides refusing to support his plan to relax
coronavirus rules to keep the economy going, according to sources with knowledge
of the dispute, Bolsonaro was looking increasingly isolated.
Though there was little cause for cheer anywhere, one positive offshoot of the
crisis has been a massive drop in pollution. One expert said carbon dioxide
emissions could fall this year by the largest amount since World War Two.
Authoritarian governments from China to Venezuela have been rebuked for
repressing people speaking out on the coronavirus. In the United States, too,
the U.S. Navy relieved an aircraft carrier of his command in punishment for the
leak of a scathing letter seeking stronger measures for an outbreak on his ship.
New Google data from 131 counties showed the extraordinary decline in human
movement. For example, in Italy, visits to retail and recreation locations,
including restaurants and cinemas, plunged 94% in March.
(Data tallied by Catherine Cadell in Beijing; Reporting by Reuters bureaux
worldwide; Writing by Daniel Wallis and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Howard
Goller and Angus MacSwan)
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