News from the Office for Budget Responsibility says that GDP could plunge by more than a third in the second quarter of the year and 13% for 2020 on the whole. The economics forecaster has warned that Britain’s economy could shrink by 35% during Q2.
EU countries have continued to take steps towards easing lockdowns, with Italy, Spain and Austria allowing partial returns to work.
News from the US, as New York City State Governor Andrew Cuomo believes the state, which has been the worst affected, is now at its apex as hospitalisations fell slightly at the beginning of the week.
Rather unbelievably, Donald Trump has taken the decision to suspend America’s funding of the World Health Organisation. Technically the White House cannot block the funding of an international organisation, as such a request must be mandated by Congress. However, Trump’s administration has found ways around such constitutional hurdles.
In a staggering address, Trump accused the WHO of failing to send its experts into the source of the outbreak to gather research samples, claiming that this apparent failure set back the effect to contain the pandemic, Trump claims.
Leading health experts have since rebuked Trump for his actions.