Millions suddenly lose jobs
NEW YORK CITY: As the number of coronavirus infections around the world passes the one million mark, the resulting job losses are likely to dwarf those of the Global Financial Crisis more than a decade ago.
Ten million Americans have lost their jobs in just two weeks in the swiftest collapse the US job market has ever witnessed.
The news of 6.6 million new unemployment claims, on top of last week’s unprecedented 3.3 million, came as economists warned unemployment could reach levels not seen since the Depression.
Elsewhere around the world, the number of people applying for welfare benefits in Britain increased nearly tenfold to almost 1 million in the past couple of weeks.
At least a million in Europe are estimated to have lost their jobs over the same period. Spain alone added over 300,000 to its unemployment rolls in March.
But the job losses there appear to be far smaller than in the US because of Europe’s greater social safety nets.
The figure of one million coronavirus cases and more than 50,000 deaths, has been tallied by the Johns Hopkins University. But the true numbers are believed to be much higher because of testing shortages, mild cases that have gone unreported and suspicions that some countries are covering up the extent of their outbreaks.
Competition for scarce ventilators, masks and other protective gear seemed to grow more desperate and deaths mounted with alarming speed in Italy, Spain and New York, the most lethal hot spot in the United States, with nearly 2400 lives lost.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the Pentagon for 100,000 body bags because of the possibility funeral homes will be overwhelmed.
Staff at one medical centre in Brooklyn were seen disposing of their gowns, caps and other protective wear in a street rubbish bin after wheeling bodies out of the hospital and loading them into a refrigerated truck.
One Brooklyn funeral home, usually equipped to handle 4060 bodies at a time, was taking care of 185.
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr Deborah Birx said not enough Americans were heeding social distancing guidelines, and the country must do better in order to emulate those European nations that have begun ‘‘to bend their curves’’.
The Trump Administration was formalising new guidance to recommend Americans wear coverings such as nonmedical masks, Tshirts or bandanas over their mouths and noses when out in public, while reserving medicalgrade masks for those dealing directly with the sick.
More than 200,000 people worldwide had recovered, by Johns Hopkins’ count. — AP