Measures imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus are pushing the world economy into a recession deeper and more painful than initially expected, even if a rebound is still on the cards for next year. A week before the International Monetary Fund updates its forecasts for the global economy that will take into account the initial damage incurred since the coronavirus emerged in China at the start of the year, the first sets of data are coming in.

The COVID-19 disease pandemic is still infecting and killing large numbers of people across Europe and there is no sign yet that the peak of the region’s outbreak has been reached, the EU’s disease monitoring agency said on Wednesday.

Spain, which has been under a lockdown since 15 March, would slowly see life return to normal by the end of the month, news wires reported. Finance minister and government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said some social distancing measures put in place to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus could begin to be lifted after 26 April, when the country's state of emergency is set to expire.

Being overweight is a major risk for people infected with the new coronavirus, according to France’s chief epidemiologist. Prof Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the epidemic, said as many as 17 million French citizens were seriously at risk from the coronavirus because of age, pre-existing illness or obesity.

Croatia will need about 70 billion kuna (€9.2bn) in the next few months to finance the measures it undertakes to combat the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Wednesday cited by Reuters. The government has already introduced some measures to help the economy, including writing off tax obligations or deferring of tax payments over the next three months.

The coronavirus cases number in the Czech Republic has risen past 5,000, although a slower growth rate allowed the health minister to say he was confident the state had prevented an uncontrolled spread as it starts easing lockdown measures, news wires reported. 195 new cases were reported on Wednesday, compared to 235 on Tuesday.

European Research Council (ERC) president Mauro Ferrari resigned on Wednesday after only three months in the job, news wires reported.  In a statement he said had lost faith in the system after he failed to set up a special programme to fight coronavirus, and attacked the EU's scientific governance and political operations.

Hungary’s MAV Symphony Orchestra is taking its music to the streets of Budapest to lift the spirits of residents quarantined in their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic, and it appears to be working.

Thousands of Chinese travellers rushed to leave coronavirus-ravaged Wuhan early Wednesday as authorities lifted a more than two-month prohibition on outbound travel from the city where the global pandemic first emerged, AFP reports.

European Union finance ministers failed to agree in all-night talks on more support for their coronavirus-hit economies and their chairman said on Wednesday morning he was suspending the discussions until Thursday.