"The pandemic continues to take a massive toll," World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated in the WHO's press briefing on Wednesday. "We have overcome many pandemics and crises before. We will overcome this one, too. The question is how large a price we will pay."
Total Global Cases: Over 460,000
Total Deaths: At Least 21,000
Total Recovered: At Least 113,000
As the number of global coronavirus cases increases, more and more of the world is entering lockdown. People around the world are also overloading supply changes as many begin hoarding food, sanitary goods and medicine out of fear of a longer fallout from the outbreak.
With the world shutting down, the United States President Donald Trump continues to worry about the closure to the world's largest economy. Trump tweeted on Wednesday: "The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep out Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than every before!"
Economic Crisis
The U.S. Senate and Trump administration came to an agreement on the terms of the now $2 trillion relief stimulus bill that aims at easing the economic impact that the coronavirus has brought on the United States. The Senate is poised to vote on the final draft of the bill as soon as possible, though some Senators have announced that they may block the bill due to ongoing disagreements on how the funds will be distributed.
The bill has yet to be published, but officials have reported that the bill contains direct payments of up to $1,200 for American citizens, $350 billion in loans for small businesses and $500 billion in aid to airlines and large corporations that are deemed to be important to national security.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated during the President's daily task briefing that he expects the direct payments to be sent out within three weeks.
Just above the United States, Canada's House of Commons agreed to approve a $27 billion Canadian ($18.8 billion) stimulus bill that will aid both impacted citizens and businesses. The bill now will be sent to the country's Senate for a vote, which Canadian officials believe will take place quickly.
In Europe, nine countries so far have called for the European Union to issue "corona bonds," which will be a new debt bond that would combine securities from different countries.
"We need to work on a common debt instrument issued by the European institution to raise funds on the market on the same basis and to the same benefits of all Member States," the heads of state of Italy, France, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Luxembourg all issued in a joint statement on Wednesday.
Need for Supplies
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has updated its guidance, allowing people to test themselves at home for COVID-19, after a study of 500 patients in Washington State showed that self tests are as effective as self-administered tests. The health insurer stated that the approved test will help reduce the burden on health care workers for testing and threat of transmission.
The FDA also warned consumers on Wednesday not to buy or use products that sellers claim help treat or prevent COVID-19. The agency said in a statement: "COVID-19 has never been seen in humans before, there are currently no vaccines to prevent or drugs to treat...There are fraudulent products that claim to cure, treat, or prevent COIVD-19 haven't been evaluated by the FDA for safety and effectiveness and might be dangerous to you and your family."
Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX has joined the growing list of companies that are using their factories to produce medical supplies for those in need. SpaceX announced that the company will be making hand sanitizer and face shields and donated a large amount of N95 masks to health care workers around the world.