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 3.8 million
- Global deaths: More than 268,000
- Most cases reported: United States (1,254,740), Spain (221,447), Italy (215,858), United Kingdom (207,977), and Russia (177,160).
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 7:54 a.m. Beijing time.
All times below are in Beijing time.
8: 55 am: China reviews Labor Day holiday containment measures
The Chinese government is reviewing “proven effective practices” for containing the coronavirus and will issue guidelines to local governments for the resumption of regular activities, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was released after a Thursday meeting chaired by premier Li Keqiang.
Measures taken during the Labor Day holidays from May 1-5 will be reviewed. During the break, China recorded 115 million tourist trips domestically.
A task force will be issuing revised guidelines to local governments. “Better focused containment routines will in turn make it easier to open more consumer services facilities to spur consumer spending and more effectively bring life and work back to normal,” said the press release.
Authorities will also facilitate the reopening of schools and the reusmption of production and consumer services, it added. —Huileng Tan
8:30 am: An escalation in US-China tensions is ‘the last thing’ anyone needs, says JPMorgan
A reignition in U.S.-China trade tensions would be the “the last thing” anyone needs when the world is already reeling from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, said JPMorgan Asset Management’s Alexander Treves.
Treves comments came as Washington and Beijing dialed up the rhetoric in recent days, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that there was “a significant amount of evidence” suggesting that the virus came from a state laboratory in Wuhan, China where cases first emerged late last year.
China has vehemently rejected claims that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Most experts believe that the virus likely originated in a wet market in Wuhan and was then transmitted to humans via bats, or pangolins. —Eustance Huang
7:45 am: April’s record US job losses expected to exceed 20 million due to virus shutdowns
The April employment report is expected to show that a record 21.5 million jobs were lost as the U.S. shut down to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
According to Dow Jones, the unemployment rate is expected to climb to 16%, the highest since 1939.
Economists expect a high concentration of job losses will be centered in the leisure and hospitality sectors and retail because those establishments were completely shut down. But they also see the losses extending more broadly into manufacturing and construction.
“This is the biggest and most acute shock we’ve seen in post-war history. It’s a dramatic loss of output in a very short period of time,” said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America. —Patti Domm
Read CNBC’s coverage from the U.S. overnight: San Francisco targets May 18 for some businesses to resume as California unveils reopening guidelines