New York: A staggering 16.8 million Americans have been thrown onto the unemployment rolls in just three weeks, while charity Oxfam has said the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could push about half a billion people into poverty.
Meanwhile, world leaders and health officials are fervently warning that hard-won gains in the fight against the scourge must not be jeopardised by relaxing social distancing during Easter weekend, and authorities across Europe banned holiday travel and set up police roadblocks.
A spike in deaths in Britain and New York and surges of reported new infections in Japan and in India’s congested cities make it clear the battle is far from over.
The fallout from the coronavirus spread that has killed more than 83,000 people and wreaked havoc on economies around the world could push around half a billion people into poverty, Oxfam said on Thursday.
Impact of crisis on global poverty
The Oxfam report released by the Nairobi-based charity ahead of next week’s International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank annual meeting calculated the impact of the crisis on global poverty due to shrinking household incomes or consumption.
“The economic crisis that is rapidly unfolding is deeper than the 2008 global financial crisis,” the report found.
Don’t anybody ever shake hands again. I mean, it sounds crazy, but that’s the way it’s really got to be until we get to a point where we know the population is protected.
“The estimates show that, regardless of the scenario, global poverty could increase for the first time since 1990,” it said, adding that this could throw some countries back to poverty levels last seen some three decades ago.
Numbers released Thursday by the world’s largest economy showed that 6.6 million American workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, on top of more than 10 million in the two weeks before that. That means more than 1 in 10 US workers have been forced out of a job since the crisis took hold.
The real numbers could be even higher because the surge of jobless claims has overwhelmed state unemployment offices around the country, and some people have been unable to get through by telephone or website. And still more job cuts are expected.
The US unemployment rate could hit 15 per cent - a number last seen at the tail end of the Depression - when the figures for April come out.
Don’t shake hands
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top American infectious-diseases expert, said the epidemic will demand permanent changes in people’s behavior until a vaccine is developed. He said people should be constantly washing their hands and those who are sick should not go to school or work.
“Don’t anybody ever shake hands again,” he said. “I mean, it sounds crazy, but that’s the way it’s really got to be until we get to a point where we know the population is protected.”
He also shot down hopes that warmer spring weather would bring an end to the crisis.
“One should not assume that we are going to be rescued by a change in the weather,” he said. “You must assume that the virus will continue to do its thing.”
The US has by far the most confirmed infections with over 430,000, three times the number of the next three countries combined. New York state on Wednesday recorded its highest one-day increase in deaths, 779, for an overall death toll of almost 6,300. New York has more than 40 per cent of the US death total of around 15,000.
“We are flattening the curve because we are rigorous about social distancing,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “But it’s not a time to be complacent.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized that “even short trips inside Germany, to the seaside or the mountains or relatives, can’t happen over Easter this year.”
