The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating, the World Health Organization said, with more than 377,000 cases now recorded and infections reported from nearly every country. More than 377,400 people have been infected across the world and over 16,500 have died.

As far as the economy is concerned, global equities rebounded almost 2% today, off near four-year lows, and the dollar slipped as investors pinned hopes on unprecedented stimulus steps by the U.S Federal Reserve and other policymakers to ease strains in financial markets.

Evidence of the devastation to the global economy mounted today as activity surveys for March from Australia and Japan showed record falls, with surveys in Europe and the United States expected to be just as dire.

The pandemic is taking its toll on aerospace manufacturing, with Boeing saying it would halt production of most wide body jets and Airbus restarting only partial output after a four-day shutdown as suppliers cut jobs.

South Korea doubled a planned economic rescue package to 100 trillion won ($80 billion) today to save companies and put a floor under crashing stocks and bond markets.