Bleak new figures 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 are in an epic slide, AP reports.

In the US, the government reported that 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for jobless benefits last week, raising the total to about 30.3 million 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.

Meanwhile, joblessness in Europe has reached 7.4 per cent, the statistics agency Eurostat reported.