Bleak new figures have underscored the worldwide economic pain inflicted by the coronavirus: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has climbed past a staggering 30 million, while Europe’s economies have gone into an epic slide.

In the US, the government reported that 3.8m laid-off workers applied for jobless benefits last week, raising the total to 30.3m in the six weeks since the outbreak took hold. The layoffs amount to 1 in 6 American workers and encompass more people than the entire population of Texas.

There was grim new data across Europe, too, where more than 130,000 people with the virus have died. The economy in the 19 countries using the euro shrank 3.8pc in the first quarter of the year, the biggest contraction since the eurozone countries began keeping joint statistics 25 years ago.

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