Nearly 17 million Americans seek jobless aid as COVID-19 slams economy

A total of 462,135 COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States as of 9 p.m. EST on Thursday (0100 GMT on Friday) with a death toll of 16,513, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Newly released data showed that 6.6 million Americans filed initial jobless claims last week, bringing the three-week total to a staggering 16.8 million and underscoring the mounting economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In the week ending April 4, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits slightly decreased by 261,000 to 6,606,000, after setting a second straight record in previous week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday.

“The very large spikes in weekly jobless claims, which were over 6 million for two consecutive months, suggests a much broader set of job closures in the short run,” Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University in Indiana, told Xinhua via email.