🏭 China’s factories are working nonstop to build lifesaving ventilators for the rest of the world. Even research and development staff are on the production lines.

Doctors from New York to Milan desperately need the machines that can help Covid-19 patients breathe. In severe cases, their availability can determine whether a patient lives or dies.

“There’s literally no country in the world that doesn’t want to buy a ventilator from China right now,” said Li Kai, director of one of the manufacturers. “We have tens of thousands of orders waiting. The issue is how fast we can make them.”

In the U.S., an estimated 960,000 would need ventilator support, but the nation only has about 200,000 machines. Keep reading: https://bloom.bg/39kngk8

📉 Europe's economy is taking a battering not seen in decades, the outcome of severe restrictions on businesses and households by governments desperately trying to contain the coronavirus pandemic. https://bloom.bg/3dkLbTH

🇪🇸 Spain recorded 514 deaths from the coronavirus on Tuesday, the highest daily increase so far. https://bloom.bg/2Ugh8Fd

🌍 This is what it looks like from space when everything stops. https://bloom.bg/2xolCAI

🥇 The Tokyo Olympics set to be held this summer have been postponed for a year: https://bloom.bg/2WDljMG

🩺 How doctors around the world are using social media to share information about the Covid-19 pandemic in real time: https://bloom.bg/2xnUm52

🏛 The House and Senate in the U.S. continue to debate coronavirus economic stimulus plans: https://bloom.bg/3blFy5D

It’s not just panic-buying consumers who are loading up their pantries. There are now signs some governments are starting to hoard food, too.

It’s just a handful of moves so far, but as countries take nationalistic approaches, they're threatening a global trade system that’s become increasingly interconnected.

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest shippers of wheat flour, banned exports of it
🇷🇸 Serbia stopped the flow of its sunflower oil and other goods
🇷🇺 Russia's leaving the door open to shipment bans

The full story: https://bloom.bg/3bmGZkq

👑 Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, tested positive for Covid-19 and has mild symptoms. https://bloom.bg/2xkFO6m

🇪🇸 Spain reported another 738 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, the deadliest day in the country to date. https://bloom.bg/3auw8Vm

💊 A medicine for malaria that Donald Trump has touted as a treatment for the virus was no more effective than conventional care, a study found. https://bloom.bg/2UCu2w2

😷 Practically overnight, 3M increased its manufacturing capacity to help fight the coronavirus pandemic: https://bloom.bg/39jX6On

💰Here are some of the provisions of the $2 trillion aid package negotiated between the Trump administration and congressional leaders: https://bloom.bg/3ajFaES

💻 Across America, state-run insurance systems are buckling under the weight of the new coronavirus’ economic fallout: https://bloom.bg/2WJinhC

Hello 👋 Here’s what we’re reading:

🏢 Billionaires want people to go back to work, saying they’re aiming to stop millions from falling further into debt and suffering for years. But as the number of people infected with coronavirus continues to rise globally, employees aren’t so sure. https://bloom.bg/39kvOHA

🌎 Meanwhile, the World Health Organization issued a rare public scolding, saying countries should stop wasting precious time needed to fight the virus. “We squandered the first window of opportunity,” said its director-general. But the world still has a second chance. https://bloom.bg/2Uhv3e7

✈️ The pandemic has also started weakening the world’s weather forecasts. With fewer airplane flights, meteorologists are losing a key source of data just before flood season starts. https://bloom.bg/2UEbk7g

🚨 Governments should stop wasting precious time needed to fight the coronavirus, says the World Health Organization. https://bloom.bg/2xtMYVL

😷 Spanish doctors are being forced to choose who to let die. https://bloom.bg/3doU12C

💷 The British pound has never been this cheap, according to Standard Chartered. https://bloom.bg/39mEBZz

The magnitude of the economic devastation being wrought by the coronavirus pandemic was made clear Thursday when the U.S. government reported an unprecedented surge in the number of people seeking jobless benefits.

A total of 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance in the week ended March 21, dwarfing previous highs in Labor Department reports published since 1967.

Two weeks earlier, before closures of businesses swept across vast swaths of the country, the number stood at 211,000, close to a half-century low: https://bloom.bg/2QMzpaW

🇺🇸 The U.S. now has more coronavirus cases than anywhere else in the world, including China, fueled by a surge of New York infections. Global deaths from the pandemic reached 24,000. https://bloom.bg/2UDfah3

😷 China’s richest man, Jack Ma, donated more than a million medical masks and 200,000 coronavirus test systems to the Russian army. Ma said he was returning the favor after Russia donated supplies in February to China. https://bloom.bg/2xri3tu

❓ Should you wear a face mask? Can you catch the virus from your dog? Will hot weather stop its spread? Put your Covid-19 knowledge to the test in this quiz: https://bloom.bg/2QRrw4a

🇬🇧 U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus.

Johnson experienced mild symptoms and a test confirmed he had the illness on Thursday.

He is self-isolating in Downing Street and said he will continue to lead the country via video-conference.
https://bloom.bg/2WLFDLX

🍽 The golden age of restaurants is over, and the coronavirus is to blame: https://bloom.bg/3bzDFTf

👀 Bosses are panic buying software to spy on employees who are working remotely: https://bloom.bg/2UMaN3s

💰Two of the Federal Reserve’s regional presidents expressed some confidence the U.S. economy can rebound strongly after coronavirus: https://bloom.bg/3apv3ya

🏥 India's doctors say it's only a matter of time before coronavirus cases surge there — and that the country isn't ready. With its densely packed cities and under-funded medical system, the world’s second-most populous country has little margin for error. https://bloom.bg/33Vjc8y

⚓ “We are stuck on this death ship.” Passengers on a Holland America Line cruise are pleading for rescue on Twitter after four travelers died and two others were infected with the coronavirus. All ports on the ship’s route have refused entry. https://bloom.bg/39sadgj

🚫 And the world could be running out of condoms because of the pandemic. https://bloom.bg/2Us0eU9

🇮🇹 Italy's policy of home quarantine risks repeating the mistakes made in China, according to a group of experts. https://bloom.bg/2vZ2Y1T

💉 A 100-year-old TB vaccine is being investigated as a weapon against coronavirus. https://bloom.bg/2WRzWMv

📉 JPMorgan says the global market rout is probably past its worst now. https://bloom.bg/3dP1LeG

🌳 Pollution levels have plummeted in many areas of the world, but the Covid-19 outbreak has not been universally positive for the environment: https://bloom.bg/2JolMui

🦠 Inside the race to identify a coronavirus vaccine in the midst of the outbreak:
https://bloom.bg/2wFPLeO

🧘‍♀ Furloughed staff. Forgone paychecks. Shuttered studios. This is what the coronavirus outbreak looks like to the boutique gym industry: https://bloom.bg/2wN6Ovm

Hello 👋 Here’s what we’re reading right now:

🚢 A billionaire’s picture-perfect isolation on a luxury superyacht triggered immediate outrage on social media. https://bloom.bg/3dD2S0O

🇨🇳 China indicated it will reveal a key data point for the first time: how many people are infected with coronavirus but don’t have symptoms. Authorities are still finding such cases, even as the growth in confirmed new cases in China has slowed. https://bloom.bg/3dEO5CN

🏡 And we’ll end on a brighter note: Here are some ideas for little luxuries to stay sane at home while you’re social distancing. https://bloom.bg/2w0JH01

🇪🇸 Spain reported its deadliest day since the coronavirus outbreak began, while Italy is discussing an extension of lockdown measures into May. https://bloom.bg/2WYwHmO

😷 Dutch scientists were able to find the coronavirus in a city's wastewater before Covid-19 cases were reported. https://bloom.bg/39rvZ3L

💶 The nightmare haunting the euro's founders may now be a reality with Italy. https://bloom.bg/3aw7unD

Hospitals in the U.S. are threatening to fire health-care workers who publicize their working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic -- and have in some cases followed through.

Ming Lin, an emergency room physician in Washington state, said he was told Friday he was out of a job because he’d given an interview to a newspaper about a Facebook post detailing what he believed to be inadequate protective equipment and testing.

In New York, the NYU Langone Health system has warned employees they could be terminated if they talk to the media without authorization.

Privacy laws prohibit disclosing specific patient information, but they don’t bar discussing general working conditions: https://bloom.bg/2WZoONM

China is seeing a spike in divorces as it emerges from coronavirus lockdown — a trend that may be an ominous warning for couples around the world who are isolating at home.

The country only publishes nationwide stats on divorce annually, but media reports show a surge in March. In one government office in Hunan province, staff members reportedly didn’t even have time to drink water because so many couples lined up to file for divorce.

Chinese officials had hoped the lockdown would actually lead to a baby boom and offset record-low birthrates. More than one municipality even put up posters urging couples to, er, get busy to support the nation.

Keep reading: https://bloom.bg/2JuJ4Pj

🇮🇹 Italy's mild flu season may help explain why it's racked up more coronavirus deaths than any other nation in the world. https://bloom.bg/39stqyA

📉 Oil's apocalyptic April could reverberate through the industry for years to come. https://bloom.bg/33ZIEd6

🚨 As global stocks attempt to recover from their biggest quarterly loss since the global financial crisis, veteran investor Jim Rogers says there's worse to come. https://bloom.bg/3dNGtOg