On Thursday, Guterres noted that domestic abuse can unduly affect children, as they are often both survivors of it and witnesses to it.
Read more from the Associated Press.
— Marina Fang
Wuhan Raises Coronavirus Death Toll By 50% — 4/17/20, 4 a.m. ET
Officials in Wuhan, China have revised the coronavirus death toll by 50%, increasing the number of fatalities by 1,290 to the 2,579 previously counted and bringing the total to 3,869.
State media reported on Friday that the undercount was due to admission facilities at hospitals being overwhelmed during the peak of the crisis.
The number of total cases in the city of 11 million people was also raised by 325 to 50,333, accounting for approximately two-thirds of China’s total 82,367 announced cases.
Questions have long swirled about the accuracy of China’s case reporting, with Wuhan, in particular, going several days in January without reporting new cases or deaths ― leading to accusations that officials were seeking to minimize the impact of the outbreak.
— Sarah Turnnidge
China’s Economy Shrinks For First Time In Decades ― 4/16/20, 11:20 p.m. ET
China’s economy plummeted by 6.8% in the first three months of 2020 compared with a year earlier, according to data released Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, ending a decades-long period of growth.
It’s the country’s first contraction since at least 1992, when China first began reporting its quarterly GDP, Reuters reported.
The historic slump comes as the world’s second-largest economy starts to re-emerge from the coronavirus crisis after it came to a near standstill to contain the spread of the pandemic.
The drop was larger than the 6.5% decline forecast by Reuters analysts and a reversal of a 6% expansion in last year’s fourth quarter. The data is a stark sign of the challenges ahead in restoring the global economy.
“What is really important was that before March, everybody was expecting China to have a V-shaped recovery because it was actually [about] China supply disruption, but now we are seeing this demand shock,” Bo Zhuang, chief China economist at TS Lombard, told CNBC.
“The internal demand shock was massive. That tells us that after coronavirus, even after the lockdowns have been lifted, people are cautious to consume. Shopping malls are open but they are not consuming, and that is the key.”
― Josie Harvey
Daily Coronavirus Death Rate Hits 4,591 In U.S., Nearly Double Previous Record — 4/16/20, 10:55 p.m. ET
The number of coronavirus deaths reported in a single 24-hour period in the United States skyrocketed on Thursday to 4,591 people, according to several reports.
Both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, citing data released by Johns Hopkins University, said the death rate was more than double the previous record set on Wednesday. A reported 2,569 people died that day after being infected with COVID-19, many in New York, an epicenter of the pandemic.
More than 662,000 people in America have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 33,000 have died. Cases globally topped 2 million this week.
— Nick Visser
Black People Are Dying From COVID-19 At Disproportionately High Rates In California, Per Early Data — 4/16/20 2 p.m. ET
Early data on coronavirus cases in California shows that Black people are dying at disproportionately high rates from COVID-19, per the state’s Department of Public Health.
While Black people make up 6% of California residents, they represent 7% of reported COVID-19 cases in the state and 12% of deaths so far, per CDPH data released Wednesday.
It’s worth noting this data analysis reflects only 65% of total COVID-19 cases and 87% of deaths reported to the state department. Overall, California has seen over 27,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 880 deaths, as of Thursday.
The disproportionate rate of death from COVID-19 among Black people matches reports from other localities, including Michigan, Louisiana, Chicago, Milwaukee and more.
Earlier this week, Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other lawmakers introduced legislation to require the federal government to report data on race and ethnicity in coronavirus cases nationwide.
— Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
Harris’ ‘VoteSafe’ Legislation Seeks To Expand Access To Voting During Coronavirus Pandemic — 4/16/20, 12:40 p.m. ET
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) announced new legislation on Thursday, called the VoteSafe Act, which seeks to expand access to voting during the pandemic. The legislation would expand vote-by-mail and early voting and provide funds to states to implement curbside voting and other initiatives.
Earlier this month, voters in Wisconsin were forced to stand in long lines and gather in large groups in order to vote, despite public health guidelines of social distancing, after Republicans in the state and U.S. Supreme Court overruled efforts to postpone the election.
“The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the obstacles many already face when voting,” Harris said in a press release. “Even before the pandemic, Native Americans, Black and Latinx voters, and voters with disabilities too often faced long lines, inaccessible voting locations, and outright hostility by election officials.”
Harris’ bill would spend $5 billion on improving access to voting, compared to the $400 million committed to the task in the coronavirus stimulus package that Congress passed in late March.
— Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
New York Extends Stay-At-Home Order For At Least Another Month — 4/16/20, 12:18 p.m. ET
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is extending the state’s stay-at-home order, NYS on PAUSE, until May 15, and neighboring states are expected to follow suit, he said at his daily press conference Thursday.
“What happens after then?” he said. “I don’t know. We will see based on what the data shows.”
The state reported another day of stabilizing infections. The three-day average rate of change in hospitalizations sharply decreased on Wednesday, and the rate of intubations also decreased. Both indicators have dropped for several consecutive days. However, about 2,000 people are still being hospitalized each day, and on Wednesday, the state reported 606 more deaths.
On Wednesday, Cuomo announced an executive order mandating the use of masks and other face coverings in places where it is difficult to practice social distancing, such as public transit and grocery stores.
During his press conference Thursday, he outlined some possible approaches to gradually reopening the economy, such as evaluating business reopenings based on whether they are more or less essential and their risk of infection. A key obstacle to figuring out when and how to reopen is the lack of widespread testing and contact tracing.
— Marina Fang
For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.
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