By Gina Lee and Peter Nurse
Japan recorded its highest March jobless rate in a year, while job availability fell to a more than three-year low.
The German and Swiss governments have agreed in principle, according to media reports, to support the aviation sector, with rescue packages for Lufthansa and the German airline’s unit Swiss.
London-headquartered banking giant HSBC reported first-quarter pretax profit fell by half, as credit impairment charges rose sharply due to the impact of the virus.
Europe:
Germany The government has agreed to help airline Lufthansa with a rescue package worth around 9 billion euros ($9.74 billion) in return for a blocking minority and one or two supervisory board mandates, Business Insider cited company sources as saying.
Switzerland The Swiss government has agreed in principle to support an aid package worth around 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.54 billion) for Lufthansa unit Swiss via state-backed bank loans, the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper reported.
Switzerland Drugmaker Novartis reported rising first-quarter sales and profit that beat analyst expectations and confirmed its 2020 targets as the coronavirus pandemic prompted patients to stock up on their prescriptions in advance.
U.K. HSBC reported a 48% slump in its pretax profit in the first quarter, as well as a 5% drop in its revenue to $13.686 billion.
The London-headquartered bank increased its expected credit impairment charges by a hefty $2.4 billion to $3 billion due to the impact of Covid-19 and weakening oil prices as well as "a significant charge related to a corporate exposure in Singapore,” it said.
U.K. Families of British health and care workers who die on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic will be paid 60,000 pounds ($74,472) as part of a new life assurance scheme, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday.
There have been over 21,000 confirmed hospital deaths due to the virus in the United Kingdom to date, and thousands more yet to be quantified in care homes. Among those, 98 health and care service workers are known to have died after testing positive for the virus.
Ireland The national public health emergency team will not recommend easing its lockdown next Tuesday unless progress on the spread and impact of the virus is made this week, the chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, said.
Germany Online takeaway food company Delivery Hero reported Tuesday that orders and revenues almost doubled in the first quarter as coronavirus lockdowns closed restaurants and prompted more people to order meals from home.
Asia:
Australia’s New South Wales state will loosen some lockdown measures from Friday, such as allowing a maximum of two adults to make social visits to another household.
Sydney's Bondi Beach reopened to surfers and swimmers on Tuesday.
Hong Kong’s civil servants will start coming back into the office on May 4, and public facilities that were closed during the Covid-19 outbreak, such as libraries and sports facilities, will also re-open.
But the city’s government is still mulling on whether to extend social distancing measures beyond May 7, as the city recorded a fourth day with no new cases.
Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 2.5%, its highest in a year, and the jobs-to-applications ratio fell to 1.39 in March.
New Zealand returned to work as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lowered the country’s alert level to 3 from 4, with factories, construction sites and takeaway food outlets re-opening after a month-long strict lockdown.
But many employees will continue working from home, and the hospitality sector must meet tough criteria to ensure social distancing before they re-open.
Singapore A recession in the country's trade-reliant economy could be deeper than forecast as the protracted nature of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to hamper a decisive rebound in global activity, the city-state's central bank said on Tuesday.
Thailand reported seven more coronavirus cases and two new deaths Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections since the outbreak began in January to 2,938 cases and 54 fatalities. This extended a trend in fewer new cases, which had been over 100 per day earlier in past weeks.
Americas:
Argentina has banned all internal and international commercial flights until September 1 because of the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The country currently has nearly 4,000 confirmed infections, with 192 deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
U.S. The House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee has launched an investigation into President Donald Trump’s decision to block World Health Organization funding, giving the State Department a week to provide relevant information.
U.S. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he will relax lockdown restrictions from Friday, allowing stores and movie theaters to reopen at reduced capacity.
