Coronavirus live updates: Singapore cases top 6,000 as global infections exceed 2.39 million – CNBC

This is CNBC's live blog covering all the latest news on thecoronavirus outbreak.This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 7:41 a.m. Beijing time.

All times below are in Beijing time.

Unemployment rates in Asia-Pacific could surge by well over 3 percentage points more than twice in an average recession as social distancing measures hit job creation, says S&P Global Ratings in a report published on Monday.

"Surging unemployment in Asia-Pacific would mean a shallower recovery once the pandemic is contained and, in some economies, credit stress for leveraged households," said Shaun Roache, Asia-Pacific chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. "Historical data show that jobs lost are not easily won back."

The service sector is the most important employer in Asia-Pacific, accounting for 55 in 100 jobs,according to S&P. Many of the new service sector jobs have been created by small- and mid-sized enterprises and they usually have fewer resources to draw on to weather a sudden economic stop, said S&P. Access to finance in particular, is a constant challenge and likely to worsen due to economic uncertainty.

"As revenues collapse, to stay alive, these firms will be forced to cut whatever expenses they can. In many cases, their largest expense will be the wage bill," said S&P.

Even if workers do hang onto their jobs, they may suffer a cut in their hours and wages, added the ratings agency. Huileng Tan

Fears over disruptions to supply chains amid the pandemic have led to some degree of hoarding among countries and consumers that's given coffee prices a much-needed boost.

It's good news for farmers in key coffee-producing regions, who have been struggling as coffee prices have been slumping in recent years.Since 2016, prices have dropped 30% below the average for the past decade, according to theInternational Coffee Organization.

But prices of Arabica, the world's most commonly produced coffee, rose last month due to concerns over its availability, said the ICO. Weizhen Tan

France's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Sunday that people will need to "learn to live with the virus" after the country lifts its lockdown on May 11, the Associated Press reported.

People would likely be required to wear face masks when taking public transport, while those who can work from home should continue to do so, according to Philippe, the AP said, adding that the prime minister warned the economic crisis "will be brutal."

France is one of several European countries that has been hit hard by the pandemic, with the total number of cases at more than 154,000 and over 19,700 people have died, data from Johns Hopkins University shows. Saheli Roy Choudhury

China's National Health Commission said there were 12 new cases of infection, with eight of them attributed to travelers from overseas. No new deaths were reported but there were 49 additional cases of asymptomatic infection, where a person tested positive for the virus but did not show any of the usual symptoms associated with the illness.

There were at least 82,747 cases of infection on the Chinese mainland since the outbreak was first reported in the Hubei province late last year. While China says most of them have been cured, around 4,632 people have died. The death toll climbed last week after Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, revised its figures that raised the death toll by 50%. Saheli Roy Choudhury

Singapore reported 596 new cases of Covid-19 as of noon local time on April 19. Most of them are linked to infection clusters in dormitories that house foreign workers typically men from other Asian countries who carry out labor-intensive construction jobs to support their families back home.

General view of the Toh Guan Dormitory, a purpose-built migrant workers dormitory that has been gazetted as an isolation area on April 19, 2020 in Singapore.

Ore Huiying | Getty Images

Sunday's numbers brought the total cases in the city-state to 6,588, a sharp spike in infections from early March as more people, particularly those living in dormitories, have been tested in recent weeks. Almost all nonessential services in Singapore are temporarily closed while residents have been told to venture outside only for essential tasks, such as buying groceries.

The health ministry said 768 people have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities while 11 patients have died to-date. Saheli Roy Choudhury

The total number of infections worldwide has risen to 2,394,291 and at least 164,938 people have died from the disease, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has most number of reported infections, with 755,533 cases in the country, Hopkins data showed.

Spain, Italy, France, and Germany have each reported more than 145,000 cases each.Cases in the United Kingdom climbed to over 121,000 according to Hopkins, and more than 16,000 people there have died.

India, which is in an extended period of lockdown until May 3, has reported more than 17,600 cases and 559 deaths, Hopkins data showed. Saheli Roy Choudhury

All times below are in Eastern time.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. is currently at755,533, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The virus has now killed more than 40,000 people in the U.S., nearly a quarter of all deaths from Covid-19 across the globe, according to JHU data.

New York, the current epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., is recording over 500 deaths a day. President Donald Trump said at a press conference that his administration is looking at helping rural hospitals which have been hurt very badly. He also said he was going to use the Defense Production Act to increase swab production at one facility amid coronavirus testing shortage. The president's announcement comes aftergovernors demanded federal helpto ramp up testing across the U.S. Riya Bhattacharjee, Noah Higgins-Dunn

United Airlineshas struck a deal with an Asian aircraft leasing firm to sell and then lease back 22 aircraft. Neither United nor the Bank of China Aviation revealed the financial terms of the deal announced Sunday morning.

The move will help United conserve cash and give its balance sheet greater flexibility as it faces mounting losses due to coronavirus causing a global plunge in airline travel.

Earlier this week, United CEO Oscar Munoz said business has essentially dropped to zero. "We expect to fly fewer people during the entire month of May than we did on a single day in May 2019," Munoz wrote in a note to employees outlining plans to cut its schedule by 90% in May.Phil LeBeau

Read CNBC's coverage from the U.S. overnight:US death toll surpasses 40,000 as cases hit 750,000

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Coronavirus live updates: Singapore cases top 6,000 as global infections exceed 2.39 million - CNBC