This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: More than 3.5 million
- Global deaths: More than 247,300
- Most cases reported: United States (over 1.15 million), Spain (over 217,400), Italy (over 210,700), United Kingdom (over 187,800), France (over 168,800)
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 7:54 a.m. Beijing time.
All times below are in Beijing time.
4:33 pm: Euro zone manufacturing economy contracts at record pace in April
Activity in the euro zone’s manufacturing sector contracted at a record rate in April with Covid-19 related measures impacting heavily on demand and production, a survey showed on Monday.
IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing fell to 33.4 in April from 44.5 in March, the final PMI data showed Monday. It’s slightly lower than preliminary (flash) data estimating a decline to 33.6. The 50-point mark separates monthly expansion from contraction.
“Below the earlier flash reading, the latest PMI was the lowest ever recorded by the series (which began in June 1997), surpassing readings seen during the depths of the global financial crisis and indicative of a considerable deterioration in operating conditions,” IHS Markit said as it released the data.
“Output, new orders, export sales and purchasing activity all fell at record rates, whilst supply side constraints intensified to an unprecedented extent. Confidence about the future sank to a fresh series low.” â Holly Ellyatt
4:00 pm: Russia sees another daily rise in coronavirus cases of over 10,000
The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia has risen by 10,581 over the past 24 hours, its crisis response center said Monday. That compares to a daily increase of 10,633 that was recorded on Sunday.
Russia’s total number of cases has reached 145,268 and it has recorded 1,356 deaths. Russia has now become the 7th worst- hit country in the world in terms of infections, Johns Hopkins University data shows. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has been diagnosed with the coronavirus just last week. â Holly Ellyatt
3:15 pm: Singapore reports 573 cases
Singapore on Monday preliminarily confirmed 573 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected people to 18,778, the country’s health ministry said.
Singapore now has one of the highest number of coronaviruses cases in Asia.
The majority of those who have been infected in recent weeks are foreign workers who are typically men from other Asian countries working in the construction and other labor-intensive sectors. â Huileng Tan
2:05 pm: Australia, New Zealand consider ‘travel bubble’
Australia and New Zealand are considering a “travel bubble” between the two countries, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday at a media conference.
Ardern has accepted an invitation from her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to attend Australia’s emergency coronavirus cabinet via video link on Tuesday, where the resumption of two-way travel without a 14-day quarantine will be discussed, she said.
Australia and New Zealand have both seen new coronavirus cases slow in the last few weeks. Both countries have closed borders to all foreign travelers. â Huileng Tan
1:45 pm: Corporate debt in China, Singapore and South Korea is rising fast as virus hits revenue
Among Asian economies, corporate debt is building up the fastest and the most in China, South Korea and Singapore, according to a report by Australian bank ANZ last week.
Companies in those countries had already been rapidly chalking up debt in the past few years, said the report by ANZ Research. But the coronavirus situation has hurt revenues and in turn, affected their ability to service their debts.
Companies in the energy sector are particularly hard-hit in Singapore and South Korea, while in China, real estate companies are stretched, according to the report. â Weizhen Tan
1:35 pm: Taiwan says it has yet to receive invite for WHO meeting
Taiwan on Monday said that it has “not yet” been invited to take part in a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting this month, Reuters reported, citing foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou.
However, the Taiwanese government will strive “until the last moment” to participate as an observer at the meeting of the WHO decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, Reuters reported citing Ou. The meeting starts on May 18.
Despite its proximity to China, Taiwan has reported just 436 cases of the coronavirus â far lower than neighboring countries â and winning praise internationally for its virus containment strategy.
However, as China considers Taiwan as its province with no right to its own diplomatic representation, the island has been excluded from participation in WHO activities. Taipei has said that it has received limited information from the WHO on the coronavirus and that the WHO ignored its initial queries about the outbreak. â Huileng Tan
12:45 pm: Thailand reports 18 new cases, no deaths
Thailand on Monday reported 18 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infected people to 2,987, Reuters reported, citing Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman of the Thai government’s Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration.
The new cases reported on Monday were migrants entering Thailand from Songkhla province in the south that share a border with Malaysia, Reuters reported citing Taweesin.
There were no deaths reported on Monday, keeping the toll at 54.
On Sunday, Thailand relaxed restrictions on some businesses after the number of daily new cases fell to single digits last week. â Huileng Tan
1:05 pm: China’s reopening offers ‘useful lessons’ to other countries, says Goldman Sachs
As the first country hit by the coronavirus disease, China was also among the earliest to lift lockdown measures â and its experience offers “useful lessons” to other countries, said Andrew Tilton, chief Asia economist at Goldman Sachs.
He explained that China’s industrial sector has recovered quicker than the services industry, which is “one thing we can probably imagine and see in other places,” Tilton told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”
He added that Chinese policymakers appeared cautious at allowing some companies â such as movie theaters and gyms â to reopen, which means there’s still some way to go before the economic activity fully resumes. In other countries, a “normal” level of activity may not return until 2021, said Tilton. â Yen Nee Lee
12:25 pm: Germany reports 679 new cases, 43 deaths
Germany on Monday reported 679 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected people to 163,175, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
There were 43 deaths, taking the toll to 6,692.
Germany has now started to re-open certain businesses after enforcing a period of lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus like most countries around the world. â Huileng Tan
12:06 pm: Electric cars remain a priority as China recovers from outbreak
China announced policies designed to help new energy vehicles after the virus outbreak showed signs of being under control. New energy vehicle subsidies and tax policies that were due to expire in 2020 have been extended to 2022.
Experts said that China’s support of the new energy vehicle market is a long-term strategy for Beijing.
From January to March, the production of new energy vehicles fell more than 60% annually and sales dropped more than 56% as China battled the virus. â Evelyn Cheng
11:57 am: Japan set to extend state of emergency till end May
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to extend the country’s state of emergency until the end of May, the Japan Times reported.
Abe met with officials including health minister Katsunobu Kato on Sunday to analyze the situation in the country and they agreed to the extension, Japan Times said. It added that the prime minister will announce the decision at a news conference Monday evening. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike also confirmed the extension.
Hopkins data showed Japan has more than 14,800 confirmed cases and 487 people have died. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
10:37 am: France won’t quarantine travelers from the Schengen area and the UK
Travelers who visit France from the open-border Schengen Area and the United Kingdom will not be placed under mandatory two-week quarantine, according to the French embassy in the U.K., Reuters reported.
The new quarantine rules will apply to French citizens and foreigners as part of France’s efforts to slow down the spread of the virus. More than 24,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the country. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
10:20 am: Trump says he thinks China made a ‘mistake’ and tried to cover up the outbreak
President Donald Trump speaks on protecting Americas seniors from the COVID-19 pandemic in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on April 30, 2020.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said China made a “horrible mistake and didn’t want to admit it.” He did not offer any evidence behind his thinking but said the U.S. government was putting together a report that would be “very conclusive.”
“My opinion is they made a mistake. They tried to cover it, they tried to put it out. It’s like a fire,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall. “You know, it’s really like trying to put out a fire. They couldn’t put out the fire.” â Tucker Higgins
9:44 am: New Zealand reports no new cases in the last 24 hours
New Zealand’s health ministry said as of 9 a.m. local time on Monday, there were no new cases of infection in the country over the last 24 hours. But, one of the probable cases changed to a confirmed case.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of infection in New Zealand is currently 1,487 and most people are said to have recovered while 20 have died. The country is at alert level 3 where services are slowly resuming operations, but with necessary health precautions and safe distancing measures. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
9:30 am: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says doctors had prepared to announce his death after he ended up in ICU last month
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a week in the hospital last month as he fought the coronavirus, including three nights in intensive care, before recovering.
He recounted his life-or-death experience in an interview with British newspaper, The Sun, NBC News reported.
Johnson told The Sun that doctors had “all sorts of arrangements” in case he succumbed to Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
8:57 am: China reports three new cases, says all of them are ‘imported’
China’s National Health Commission said there were three additional cases and attributed all of them to travelers from overseas. No new deaths were reported, but there were 13 cases of asymptomatic infection.
There have been at least 82,880 confirmed instances of infection on the mainland since the virus outbreak was first reported in Hubei province late last year. Among them, 4,633 people have died. The cumulative death toll increased substantially on April 17 after an investigation in the city of Wuhan added 1,290 deaths. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
8:24 am: Trump says he believes there will be a vaccine by end of 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was confident that a vaccine would be available by the end of 2020. That appeared to contradict projections made by public health officials, who have said a coronavirus vaccine could take between a year to 18 months.
“We are very confident that we are going to have a vaccine at the end of the year, by the end of the year,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. “We think we are going to have a vaccine by the end of this year, and we are pushing very hard.”
He said he thought many companies were close to developing a vaccine. â Tucker Higgins
7:35 am: India has more than 40,000 cases as it extends lockdown
India has 40,263 confirmed cases of infection as of Sunday evening, according to data on the health ministry’s website. About 10,886 people have recovered and 1,306 people have died, the data revealed.
Non-local workers wear protective face masks as a preventive measure while in queue receiving aid from a local non-government organization during the lockdown. Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Mondi announced 21 day lockdown on 22 March across the country restricting the movement of people from stepping out of their home to curb the spread of the corona virus.
Idrees Abbas | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images
Infection cases have gone up despite the country being under lockdown since late March. That lockdown has now been extended by two weeks for a second time. New guidelines issued would allow some restrictions to be eased in districts that have a low risk of spreading the virus. Activities such as re-opening schools and shopping malls are still not allowed. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
7:26 am: Singapore now has more than 18,000 cases but community spread remains low
Singapore reported 657 new cases of infection as of noon on May 3, with most of them linked to identified clusters in foreign worker dormitories, the health ministry said.
The city-state has confirmed more than 18,000 cases so far and 18 people have died from Covid-19. Most patients have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still testing positive, the ministry said. They are being kept in isolation at community facilities while a little over 1,600 people are still in hospitals.
The majority of those who have been infected in recent weeks are foreign workers who are typically men from other Asian countries working in the construction and other labor-intensive sectors. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
7:12 am: Global cases top 3.5 million, death toll above 247,000
More than 3.5 million people have now been infected worldwide by the coronavirus and over 247,000 people have died from the respiratory disease Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. reported the most number of cases, with over 1.1 million infections and more than 67,000 deaths, Hopkins data showed. The death toll from Covid-19 has surpassed American fatalities from the Vietnam War.
A patient is tested for coronavirus at the Pro Health Urgent Care coronavirus testing site on April 30, 2020 in Wantagh, New York.
Al Bello | Getty Images
Spain, Italy, the U.K., France and Germany remain some of the worst-affected countries after the United States. The virus outbreak was first reported in China’s Hubei province late last year before it spread rapidly to the rest of the world in just four months. â Saheli Roy Choudhury
All times below are in Eastern time.
6 pm: Dow futures fall more than 200 points as traders weigh the reopening of the economy
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down by 245 points, or 1%, and S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also traded about 1% lower as traders weighed the reopening of the economy along with brewing tensions between China and the U.S.
Although states across the U.S. are slowly easing stay-at-home restrictions and reopening nonessential businesses to help the economy rebound, data from the World Health Organization showed the U.S. had its deadliest 24 hours between Thursday and Friday.
“The next 2-4 weeks are critical for both the economic crisis and the health crisis,” said Marc Chaikin, CEO of Chaikin Analytics. “The biggest risk to the stock market is a premature reopening of the U.S. economy. If rising COVID-19 curves reemerge and economies are shut down again the damage to the stock market’s psyche will be dramatic.” â Fred Imbert
5:30 pm: US intelligence report accuses China of covering up outbreak severity to hoard medical supplies
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, chairs a symposium at the School of Medicine at Tsinghua University in Beijing, capital of China, March 2, 2020.
Yan Yan | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
The report from the Associated Press states that China increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies. The analysis states that China attempted to cover up doing so by “denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data.” â Riya Bhattacharjee, Associated Press
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