SoDATA — China on Tuesday announced its manufacturing sector was recovering after its markets took a steep hit due to the coronavirus outbreak that saw trade drop during the month of January and February.
In less than two years, the second biggest global economic power had its monthly export revenue doubled — from $120bln in Feb 2017 to $238bln in Dec 2019.
Meanwhile, countries the world over were tightening quarantine restrictions as the pandemic deepened — mostly west of the outbreak in Wuhan — it’s the flagship city of global manufacturing hub that China is called.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics released data Tuesday that showed its factory activity was growing after floundering in February when the nation’s number of COVID-19 infections and deaths exponentially climbed.
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According to an index of Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers, factory activity shot up to 52 on the 100-point scale in March from a low 35.7 in February. Figures above a 50 signal market expansion and March’s number is the highest the world’s second-largest economy has experienced in at least a year.
The figures were announced as the former epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen its outbreak come under control with push to make and ship coronavirus related products worldwide.
However, while the outbreak in China is said to be under control, the global pandemic continues to grow (specially within a band covering 30 degree and 50 degree north latitude) — White House experts on Tuesday shared projections that up to 200,000 Americans may die as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
During a briefing by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Deborah Birx shared figures projecting that the virus had the potential to kill between 1.5 million and 2.2 million Americans without mitigation and could still lead to 100,000 to 200,000 deaths even if mitigation efforts including “stay-at-home” orders issued in many states continue.
The task force based its projections on data from the outbreak in Italy and various models.
As of Wednesday morning, the pandemic consisted of 860,790 infected patients and 42,354 deaths in 180 countries, according to a live tracker of COVID-19 statistics by Johns Hopkins University.
