This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: More than 1,929,900
- Global deaths: At least 120,449
- US cases: More than 582,500
- US deaths: At least 23,649
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
10:21 am: Amazon fires two employees who were outspoken critics of its labor practices
Amazon fired two employees late last week who were outspoken critics of the company’s labor practices, including, most recently, its treatment of warehouse workers during the coronavirus outbreak.
The company confirmed to CNBC that it fired Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, both of whom were user experience designers, for “repeatedly violating internal policies.”
“We support every employee’s right to criticize their employer’s working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity against any and all internal policies. We terminated these employees for repeatedly violating internal policies,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
Amazon’s external communications policy prohibits employees from speaking about the company’s business without approval from management.
The workers said they were fired on Friday and believe the action was in retaliation to their continued criticism of Amazon, according to The Washington Post, which first reported on the news Tuesday. —Annie Palmer
9:53 am: CEO gives cellphone number to all 10,000 of his employees to call any with coronavirus concerns
For the 10,000 or so who work at Activision Blizzard around the world, one person they can call about their coronavirus concerns is CEO Bobby Kotick.
“About a month ago, we sent out an email from my email address with my phone number and we encouraged every single employee that has a concern that relates to their health care to just contact me directly,” Kotick told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Squawk Box.”
Kotick said “a few hundred” employees have reached out to him since that email. “But we’re fortunate. Very few actually tested positive so far for Covid-19.”
Activision Blizzard also partnered with organizations for additional mental-health care and for licensed child care, said Kotick, noting the company has made investments to support research on treatments for Covid-19. —Kevin Stankiewicz
9:42 am: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts have highest number of reported cases
9:35 am: Dow jumps 500 points as the coronavirus outlook improves
Stocks jumped on Tuesday as investors grew more optimistic about the coronavirus outlook while bracing for the start of the corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 510 points, or 2.2%. The S&P 500 climbed 2.2% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.4%. Johnson & Johnson was the best-performing stock in the Dow while the S&P 500 was led higher by 2% rallies in tech, real estate and utilities. —Fred Imbert, Yun Li
9:30 am: Hudson Yards owner says workers must return to offices before malls can reopen in post-coronavirus world
The reopening of retail centers after the coronavirus pandemic subsides will come “weeks past” commercial offices reopening, according to the owner of Hudson Yards in New York.
“My guess is we go back to offices first,” Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Tuesday. “I think retail is going to be a second step. I think retail is going to be much slower to come back. Just because people go to their offices, I don’t think they are going to rush out to congregate in restaurants.”
Some of Related’s retail properties include Hudson Yards and The Shops at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Related’s portfolio of real estate in the U.S. also includes office buildings and residential towers.
Related is already testing a handful of temperature-scanning machines at construction sites, for example, which could be rolled out to office buildings and malls. —Lauren Thomas
9:06 am: Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats sued over restaurant prices amid pandemic
GrubHub, DoorDash, Postmates, and Uber Eats were sued on Monday for allegedly exploiting their dominance in restaurant meal deliveries to impose fees that consumers ultimately bear through higher menu prices, including during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a proposed class action filed in Manhattan federal court, three consumers said the defendants violated U.S. antitrust law by requiring that restaurants charge delivery customers and dine-in customers the same price, while imposing “exorbitant” fees of 10% to 40% of revenue to process delivery orders.
The consumers, all from New York, said this sticks restaurants with a “devil’s choice” of charging everyone higher prices as a condition of using the defendants’ services.
Grubhub, whose businesses include Grubhub and Seamless, and Uber Technologies, which owns Uber Eats, declined to comment. DoorDash and Postmates did not immediately respond to requests for comment. —Reuters
8:58 am: IMF slashes growth forecasts, says world will ‘very likely’ experience worst recession since the 1930s
The global economy will this year likely suffer the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the International Monetary Fund said, as governments worldwide grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Washington-based organization now expects the global economy to contract by 3% in 2020. By contrast, in January it had forecast a global GDP (gross domestic product) expansion of 3.3% for this year.
“It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago,” Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s chief economist, said in the latest World Economic Outlook report. —Silvia Amaro
8:50 am: The 10 US states developing ‘reopening’ plans account for 38% of the US economy
The 10 U.S. states coordinating plans separately from the White House to reopen businesses shut by the coronavirus generated 38.3% of the total U.S. economic output in the fourth quarter of 2019, highlighting how much of the U.S. economy depends on its most populous states.
On Monday, three states on the U.S. West Coast, led by California Governor Gavin Newsom, and seven on the East Coast, led by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, said they will develop coordinated regional plans. With the exception of Massachusetts, all are led by Democratic governors. —Reuters
8:25 am: Global airline hit rises to $314 billion
Global airlines will lose $314 billion in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 according to a forecast from the industry’s representative body IATA, which raised its estimate from the $252 billion figure given on March 24.
The $314 billion represents a 55% fall in passenger revenues compared to the previous year, on air traffic which is seen being 48% lower, said the International Air Transport Association in a weekly online news conference. —Reuters
7:49 am: Sanofi partners with GSK to develop vaccine
Sanofi and GSK have entered an agreement to jointly create a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of next year.
The companies plan to start clinical trials in the second half of 2020 and make it available by the second half of 2021.
“As the world faces this unprecedented global health crisis, it is clear that no one company can go it alone,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in an announcement. “That is why Sanofi is continuing to complement its expertise and resources with our peers, such as GSK, with the goal to create and supply sufficient quantities of vaccines that will help stop this virus.” —Jennifer Elias
7:18 am: WHO says ‘certainly not seeing the peak yet’
The number of new cases of Covid-19 is easing in some parts of Europe, including Italy and Spain, but outbreaks are still growing in Britain and Turkey, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
“The overall world outbreak, 90 percent of cases are coming from Europe and the United States of America. So we are certainly not seeing the peak yet,” WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris told a briefing in Geneva.
In China, “the biggest threat is imported cases,” she said, referring to the latest data.
“We shouldn’t really be expecting to see the vaccine for 12 months or longer,” Harris added. —Reuters
7:14 am: Spain reports 567 new deaths as infection rate slows
Doctors are on the street in front of the emergency entrance of the hospital of St. Pau to thank the support of the neighbors during the crisis of coronavirus – Covidien-19 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on March 31, 2020.
NurPhoto
Spain’s overnight death toll from the coronavirus rose to 567 from 517 a day earlier, while the country reported its lowest increase in new cases since March 18.
Total deaths climbed to 18,056, while confirmed cases of the infection rose by 3,045 to 172,541, the Health Ministry said in a statement. —Reuters
7:05 am: WHO offers advice on adapting to a ‘new normal’
The World Health Organization has identified six criteria for countries looking to slowly lift lockdown measures, warning the way down from the peak of the outbreak is “much slower” than the way up.
The global public health crisis has meant countries around the world have effectively had to shut down, with many governments imposing draconian measures on the lives of billions of people. The social and economic restrictions, which range from school closures to social distancing and bans on public gatherings, were brought in to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some European countries have laid out plans to emerge from lockdown as soon as this month after enduring several weeks of stringent social and economic restrictions.
Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus outlined a checklist that the United Nations health agency has devised for countries considering whether to lift some lockdown measures. —Sam Meredith
6:12 am: London’s Heathrow airport expects passenger traffic to slump by 90% in April
A largely empty Heathrow Terminal 5 on September 9, 2019 in London, England. British Airways pilots have begun a 48 hour ‘walkout’, grounding most of its flights over a dispute about the pay structure of its pilots.
Dan Kitwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images
London’s Heathrow Airport said it expected passenger traffic to slump by 90% in April, as it announced that passenger numbers for March were down 52% year-on-year.
Heathrow moved to single runway operations on April 6, the airport said, and in coming weeks will consolidate all operations into two of its four open terminals.
“The move will protect long-term jobs at the airport by reducing operating costs, helping Heathrow to remain financially resilient,” operators said in a statement, adding that the airport’s available capacity was now being used to prioritize cargo flights with medical supplies. —Chloe Taylor
5:21 am: UK likely to extend lockdown as death toll tops 11,000, while Europe starts to lift restrictions
The U.K. looks set to extend its lockdown measures into early or perhaps even late May, just as other European hot spots start to lift some restrictions on businesses.
The official number of deaths from the virus in the U.K. stands at 11,239 with the U.K. on the same trajectory as Italy, the government’s chief scientific advisor said on Monday.
Italy has seen over 20,000 deaths from the virus but has started to lift some lockdown measures, allowing bookshops and stationers to reopen. —Holly Ellyatt
5:08 am: Death toll in England 15% higher than previously reported
On Tuesday, more evidence emerged that the extent of deaths in the U.K. could be significantly higher than reported.
The Office of National Statistics reported that deaths in England caused by the coronavirus before April 3 were 15% higher than previously reported NHS numbers.
“The latest comparable data for deaths involving Covid-19 with a date of death up to April 3, show there were 6,235 deaths in England and Wales,” Nick Stripe, head of health analysis at the Office for National Statistics, said Tuesday morning, Reuters reported.
“When looking at data for England, this is 15% higher than the NHS numbers as they include all mentions of Covid-19 on the death certificate, including suspected Covid-19, as well as deaths in the community.”
The U.K.’s department of health put the latest hospital death toll from the coronavirus at 11,329 as of Monday, up 717 from the previous day. —Holly Ellyatt
Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Moscow warns it could run out of hospital beds soon
