Coronavirus live news: US states start to reopen as detained Wuhan journalist reappears
World has ‘a long way to go’, warns WHO chief; Singapore cases pass 10,000; first case among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Follow the latest updates.
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The UK is embarking on a large-scale study of 300,000 people to find out what proportion of the population has already had the coronavirus and how many may have some immunity to it as a result.
Studies are being undertaken around the world to work out how widespread the infection is. So far, they have found the proportion of people with antibodies showing they have been infected is low. The World Health Organization said this week it appears that only around 2 to 3% of people in the general population have been infected – with or without symptoms.
Related: UK plans to test 300,000 for immunity to coronavirus
The world is on track for a recession of “unprecedented depth in the post-war period”, ratings agency Fitch says.
In a note issued on Thursday, Fitch chief economist Brian Coulton said the agency now expected world gross domestic product to tumble by 3.9% in 2020.
“This is twice as large as the decline anticipated in our early April GEO [global economic outlook] update and would be twice as severe as the 2009 recession,” he said.
Fitch said the slump implied a US$2.8tn fall in global income levels from last year.
Coulton said unprecedented floods of cash pumped into the economy by governments “will serve to cushion the near-term shock”.
“But with job losses occurring on an extreme scale and intense pressures on small and medium-sized businesses, the path back to normality after the health crisis subsides is likely to be slow,” he said.
from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ziDBsZ