The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— Asian Development Bank forecasts pandemic will cost world economy as much as $4.1 trillion
— India’s PM urges citizens to light candles Sunday night to boost morale, spirit
— South Korea says more than 27,000 people are under self-quarantine
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MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Development Bank forecasts that the coronavirus pandemic will cost the world economy as much as $4.1 trillion, or nearly 5% of all economic activity.
In an update Friday, the regional lender said growth in developing Asia would likely fall to 2.2% in 2020 from 5.2% last year. The Manila, Philippines-based bank said that Southeast Asia, a market of more than 600 million that has been rapidly growing, will likely log 1% growth this year.
The report said China, the region’s biggest economy, saw double-digit contractions in business activity in January-February and will likely see growth fall to 2.3% this year from a three-decade low of 6.1% in 2019. China, which is trying to get its economy back on track after unprecedented shutdowns in Wuhan, where the virus was first reported, and other parts of the country could suffer losses amounting to up to $692 billion if containment efforts drag on. But the ADB estimated that growth would bounce back next year to more than 7%.
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NEW DELHI — To bolster morale and spirit, India’s prime minister urges the country’s 1.3 billion people to switch off lights of their home for nine minutes Sunday night and light candles, lamps and even use mobile torches standing in their balconies.
In a video message broadcast Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said such a gesture will dispel the darkness created by the coronavirus and show that people are together in their fight against the epidemic.
He said social distancing was the only way to break the chain of coronavirus, which has so far claimed 53 lives in India with 1,860 positive cases.
Modi ordered a three-week lockdown across the country on March 24 to stop a massive outbreak of coronavirus infections.
On Friday, he acknowledged the hardships caused by the world’s biggest shutdown to millions of people who have been left jobless and forced tens of thousands of migrants workers to flee to their villages for food and shelter.
Indian officials have repeatedly insisted there is no evidence yet of community spread, but have conducted relatively scant testing for the disease in a country where tens of millions live in dense urban areas with irregular access to clean water.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says more than 27,000 people are under self-quarantine in the country after it strengthened border controls to slow coronavirus infections linked to international arrivals.
Park Jong-hyun, an official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said Friday that 19,567 of those under self-quarantine have recently returned from overseas while another 7,499 were isolated after contacting virus carriers.
South Korea has been enforcing 14-day quarantines on all passengers arriving from overseas since Wednesday, expanding measures that had already been applied to South Korean nationals and long-term stay foreigners coming from Europe and the United States.
Health Ministry official Koh Deuk-young said 266 short-term visitors have so far been quarantined at designated facilities after the quarantines were expanded Wednesday.
Authorities are isolating and testing passengers arriving with symptoms at airports while denying entry of anyone refusing to accept quarantines or download an app that requires users to report their daily health conditions and alerts officials when they leave their homes or facilities.
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Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak