Rolling updates on the latest developments and headlines from around the world on the COVID-19 pandemic. 

By Gina Lee and Peter Nurse 

01:09 AM ET: UK retail sales dropped in April by most in at least 25 years

U.K. retail sales dropped in April by the most in at least a quarter of a century, according to industry figures that outline the impact of the shutdown on stores.

The British Retail Consortium said total sales fell 19.1% in April compared with a year earlier, the most since its monitor began in 1995. In a further sign of the damage done by the lockdown, a Barclaycard measure of consumer spending fell 36.5% last month.

00:59 AM ET: China’s air passenger numbers fell 68.5% in April, an improvement from March

China’s air passenger numbers fell 68.5% in April from a year ago, for a drop smaller than in March, the aviation regulator said on Wednesday, pointing to a fragile industry recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Air passengers numbered 16.72 million in April, Xiong Jie, a spokesman of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told an online news conference. That compared with a decline of 71.7% on the year in March, when passengers numbered 15.13 million.

00:55 AM ET: Malaysia posts slowest growth through March since 2009

Malaysia’s economy unexpectedly expanded, growing 0.7% in the three months through March compared to a year earlier, but at its slowest pace since 2009, according to Malaysia’s central bank.

The economy contracted 2% on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous three months, the central bank added.

00:51 AM ET: Chinese city of Jilin imposes fresh travel restrictions after new outbreak

The northeast Chinese city of Jilin is imposing fresh restrictions on travel in order to contain a new coronavirus outbreak, with six new cases reported on Tuesday.

Jilin has emerged as the source of a potential new wave of infections and the neighbouring city of Shulan was forced to adjust the risk level to “high” from “medium” at the weekend.

10:10 PM ET: Gilead opens remdesivir to generic drugmakers, NRC to work with CanSino on vaccine

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) licensed remdesivir, its potential Covid-19 treatment, to five generic drug manufacturers in India and Pakistan to speed supply chain development and help meet anticipated demand. 

The five companies are Cipla Ltd., Ferozsons Laboratories, Hetero Labs Ltd., Jubilant Lifesciences, and Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL). They will now be able to produce the drug without paying royalties until either another treatment to prevent Covid-19 is developed or the World Health Organization declares an end to the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, Canada’ National Research Council said on Tuesday that it will work with China’s CanSino Biologics to advance bioprocessing and clinical development of a potential vaccine. The Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate received Chinese regulatory approval earlier this year, and CanSino will move ahead with human clinical trials in China.   

10:06 PM ET: South Korea suffers biggest month of job losses in two decades 

South Korea reported its biggest month of job losses in more than two decades in April, with the number of jobs falling by 476,000 from the same month a year ago. 

The drop continued a second month of rising unemployment as businesses such as hotels and restaurants slashed hiring, data from the statistics office said. 

10:02 PM ET: Brazil and Mexico report record surge in deaths 

Brazil is fast becoming a new virus hotspot as it recorded 881 deaths on Tuesday. Johns Hopkins University data said that the country had 177,602 confirmed cases and 12,404 deaths as of May 13.

Meanwhile, Mexico reported a record 353 more deaths and 1,997 confirmed cases on Tuesday.  

According to Johns Hopkins University data, Mexico has 36,327 cases and 3,573 deaths as of May 13. 

By Hideyuki Sano

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar was on the defensive against its rivals on Wednesday as traders looked to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech amid rising speculation the United States could one day adopt negative interest rates.

Risk-sensitive currencies lacked momentum as a warning from a top U.S. health official about the dangers of reopening the economy too soon served as a reminder of the uncertainties facing an economy which has been ravaged by the novel coronavirus.

The dollar traded at 107.15 yen , having slipped from Tuesday’s peak of 107.76, its highest since April 24.

The euro changed hands at $1.0848 (EUR=) after having gained about 0.4% in the previous session.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday again pushed the Federal Reserve to adopt negative interest rates, a hot topic in financial markets since last week when U.S. money market instruments started to price in a chance of negative rates.

U.S. consumer prices dropped 0.8% in April, the biggest since the Great Recession, raising the spectre of deflation as the economy sinks deeper into recession and fuelling the debate about policy responses.

“I would advise against negative rates. Japan has done that but the perception here is that it wasn’t so good,” said Hiroyuki Ueno, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui (NYSE:SMFG) Trust Asset Management.

“But what’s worrying is that Trump is now talking about them. Looking at past examples, the Fed has eventually done what Trump wanted quite often.”

Powell will be speaking on current economic issues in a webcast hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics at 9:00 a.m. (1300 GMT).

Although Fed officials have said they do not see a need to cut interest rates below zero – investors think that will become an option especially if the coronavirus outbreak leads to further deterioration in the U.S. economy.

Top U.S. infectious disease advisor Anthony Fauci on Tuesday warned Congress that a premature lifting of lockdowns could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus.

His comments cast a shadow on optimism in financial markets in recent weeks that the worst period of the epidemic is over and the economy can only get better.

U.S. stock prices also slid, led by high-flying technology shares, adding to the cautious mood on the economic outlook.

That put a brake on a rally in risk-sensitive currencies such as the Australian dollar.

The Australian currency stepped back to $0.6473 from Monday’s one-week high of $0.6562.

It took an additional hit on Tuesday after China banned some Australian meat imports, though it trimmed losses later as Australia’s trade minister played down the issue as a technicality.

The New Zealand dollar stood at $0.6082 , down so far in the week but inside its recent trading range ahead of a policy announcement from the country’s central bank later in the day.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to keep interest rates on hold at 0.25% while expanding its quantitative easing programme.

The British pound stood near its lowest levels in five weeks at $1.2264 , pummelled also by continued confusion over government plans to ease lockdown measures, the worst COVID-19 death toll in Europe and revived Brexit risks.

Official data published on Tuesday showed Britain’s death toll from COVID-19 topped 38,000 as of early May, having overtaken Italy as the worst affected country in Europe.