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UNITED NATIONS, Apr 03 (APP): The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday calling for increased global solidarity and international cooperation to “contain, mitigate and defeat” the deadly coronavirus infection.

The resolution, drafted by Singapore and co-sponsored by Pakistan and over 180 other countries, passed using a new mechanism called “silence procedure,” which does not require a resolution to be voted upon, but rather will pass automatically after a set time if no member state objects.

3 April 2020; AFP: The coronavirus pandemic has plunged the world into uncharted territory, leaving people feeling helpless in the face of an invisible threat of unknown duration that could infect any of us.

With uncertainty surrounding the outbreak deepening the economic, social and health care crisis, an army of therapists is helping people cope with the brutal psychological fallout.

"People are experiencing very high levels of anxiety," Sonya Lott, a Philadelphia-based psychologist who specializes in grief counseling, told AFP.

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent a letter to UN member states, expressing concerns over "enormous challenges" posed by COVID-19 and financial pressure of UN operations, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said here on Thursday.

The world organization ended 2019 with arrears of 711 million U.S. dollars, the highest level for a decade and a 34 percent increase compared to 2018, Guterres said, adding that the pressure comes from continued financial constraints.

NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus outbreak has thrown 10 million Americans out of work in just two weeks in the swiftest, most stunning collapse the U.S. job market has ever witnessed, and the public health crisis deepened in New York City, where a funeral home in a hard-hit neighborhood had 185 bodies stacked up Thursday — more than triple normal capacity.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday after U.S. crude inventories rose last week by the most since 2016, while gasoline demand suffered its biggest weekly drop ever due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Crude inventories USOILC=ECI rose by 13.8 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. That was the biggest one-week rise since 2016, and analysts expect similar data in coming weeks, as refineries curb output further and gasoline demand continues to decline.

UNITED NATIONS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The global economy could shrink by up to 1 percent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and may contract even further if restrictions on economic activities are extended without adequate fiscal responses, according to analysis released Wednesday by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA).

The UN-DESA briefing finds that millions of workers are at risk of losing their jobs as nearly 100 countries close their national borders.

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists offered more evidence Wednesday that the coronavirus is spread by seemingly healthy people who show no clear symptoms, and the federal government issued new guidance warning that anyone exposed to the disease can be considered a carrier.

A study by researchers in Singapore became the latest to estimate that somewhere around 10% of new infections may be sparked by people who carry the virus but have not yet suffered its flu-like symptoms.

NEW YORK (AP) — Coronavirus deaths soared. New York City playgrounds were targeted for shutdown to help slow an outbreak projected to grow worse for another month. Overtaxed hospitals began transferring patients north of the city. And residents near one struggling hospital have become all too used to ambulance sirens.

“It’s very eerie. I think everyone’s just doing what they can, but at the same time it bothers you. Especially if you’re around Elmhurst because you can hear all the ambulances,” said Emma Sorza, near Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York rushed to bring in an army of medical volunteers Wednesday as the statewide death toll from the coronavirus doubled in 72 hours to more than 1,900 and the wail of ambulances in the otherwise eerily quiet streets of the city became the heartbreaking soundtrack of the crisis.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 01 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has launched a new plan to counter the devastating socio-economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, calling on everyone to “act together to lessen the blow to people”.

“The new coronavirus disease is attacking societies at their core, claiming lives and people’s livelihoods”, he said Tuesday, pointing out that the potential longer-term effects on the global economy and individual countries are “dire”.