Rome: Italy has reported 662 new coronavirus deaths bringing the country’s death toll to 8,165, which is the highest in the world.
The country has 6,153 new coronavirus infections, pushing the global total over half a million, based on a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy now has 80,539 cases, almost as many as China.
The human and economic toll of the lockdowns against the coronavirus mounted on Thursday as Italy shut down most of its industry, and a record-shattering 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in a single week.
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Around the globe, the death toll stood at nearly 8,200 in Italy, more than 4,100 in Spain and over 1,000 in the U.S., approximately 400 of them in New York State, the worst hotspot in the nation.
The United Nations estimated that as many as 25 million jobs could be lost in the economic upheaval, more than during the global financial meltdown of 2008.
In Europe, companies are laying off workers at the fastest pace since 2009, according to surveys of business managers. And the US is bleeding jobs as well: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week was nearly five times the old record, set in 1982.
AP
