JOBLESS NUMBERS GROW IN U.S.

• More than two dozen U.S. states moved ahead with plans to relax restrictions on business and social life, hoping to reverse the economic blows of the coronavirus that caused another 3.84 million Americans to file jobless claims last week.

With White House guidelines for social distancing expiring on Thursday, states have been grappling with when and how to revive their economies while keeping residents safe with stay-athome and social-distancing policies.

Some states planned to ease restrictions without the “Opening Up America Again” safeguards that the White House itself had recommended, including declines in the infection rate and expanded virus testing.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a White House task force member, warned states not to move too fast, a refrain of many public health officials since states, led by Georgia, started easing restrictions.

“You can’t just leap over things to a situation where you’re really tempting (the virus) to rebound. That’s the thing I get concerned about,” he said.

The number of coronavirus cases is still climbing in many parts of the country.

Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania reported record daily death tolls on Wednesday and the total number of deaths in the United States topped 62,000 with well over 1 million confirmed cases.

The sense of urgency with which states were looking to reopen was highlighted by Labour Department data showing that 3.839 million people filed claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended April 25.

That was down from 4.442 million the prior week, but still lifted the number of people who sought unemployment benefits to around 30 million since March 21. That represents roughly 18.4 per cent of the working age population.

Data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. economy in the first quarter suffered its sharpest contraction since the 2007-2009 Great Recession.

The numbers suggested that layoffs were spreading to industries not directly hurt at first by business closures and disruptions related to the coronavirus.

Florida on Wednesday became the latest state to announce steps to ease restrictions that crippled business activity. Earlier in the week, Texas announced a similar reopening strategy due to take effect this Friday.

In California, however, Governor Gavin Newsom was expected to announce the closure of all beaches and parks after crowds jammed beaches last weekend, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said his state would hire thousands of people to trace the contacts of people who test positive for the coronavirus.