CNN reported on Thursday that the European Union's economy shrank 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2020, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Eurostat, the EU's statistical office situated in Luxembourg said that this was the worst quarterly drop since the EU started collecting the data in 1995. They warn that these results are setting the union on the course of the recession unless the member states manage to produce positive growth in the second quarter.
CNN added that Eurozone's growth had contracted by 3.8 percent.
On the other hand, individual EU member states started falling into recession. First of which was France. This country, which is the second EU economy only to Germany reported a sharp drop in its Q1 GDP of 5.8 percent.
Italy is also entering a recession, Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said in its preliminary report, adding that the country's economy dropped 4.7 percent in Q1 of 2020.
This is the second consecutive negative quarter for Italy, CNN reported.
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In the meantime, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Thursday that Europe is still “very much in the grip of this pandemic.”
Today the European region accounts for 46 percent of cases, and 63 percent of deaths globally,” regional director Dr Hans Kluger said, CNN reported.
Although Europe is seeing evidence of a “plateau or a reduction” of new cases since the introduction of social distancing measures, he warned against complacency.
“This virus is unforgiving. We must remain vigilant, persevere and be patient, ready to ramp up measures as and when needed,” Dr Kluger said.
The total number of cases of Covid-19 has increased by 15 percent over the past week, while deaths have risen by 17 percent during the same period.
Dr Kluger said: “The situation across our region is not uniform. Every country is mapping out its route to a new normal.”
CNN recalled that Thursday marks three months since WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the spread of coronavirus a public health emergency.
