The global economy is facing "staggeringly large" losses and the recovery effort is hampered by a shortage of resources to make up for the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, World Bank President David Malpass said Tuesday, AFP reports. 

While the US-based development lender has rushed out new programs to deploy $160 billion in funding to 100 countries in an effort to addresses the immediate emergency, the crisis will force developing nations to rethink the structure of their economies, Malpass told AFP in an interview.

Initial estimates of $5 trillion in economic value destroyed by the Covid-19 measures likely falls far short of the actual damage that will be done by the efforts to contain the virus, he said.

The bank warned that the worldwide recession will drive 60 million people into extreme poverty but Malpass said that grim projection likely will become much worse as the crisis progresses.

As he deals with the emergency, what keeps the World Bank chief up at night?

"Not enough resources," he said.

"I keep looking... for others to add resources to the programs that we have up and running," among them direct cash payments to help the most vulnerable people in developing nations, Malpass said.

The World Bank will release its updated Global Economic Prospects (GEP) growth forecasts next week, but the scope and speed of the pandemic's impact almost defies description, and will leave long-lasting scars.

"The countries are facing the deepest global recession since World War II," Malpass said. "And that should keep lots of people up at night worrying about the consequences for the poor, for the vulnerable within those economies, for children, for healthcare workers, all facing unprecedented challenges."

While advanced economies will face the deepest downturns in percentage terms, "in many ways the more dangerous contractions are in the poorest countries, because they were closer to the poverty line before the pandemic."

The deterioration in extreme poverty in large part will depend on how soon advanced economies can reopen, since developing nations depend on markets in rich countries, he said.

India evacuates Covid-19 hospital

More than 10 000 people, including some coronavirus patients, were moved to safer locations Tuesday as India's west coast braced for a cyclone, the first such storm to threaten Mumbai in more than 70 years, AFP reports.

Authorities in India's financial capital, which is struggling to contain the pandemic, evacuated nearly 150 Covid-19 patients from a recently built field hospital to a facility with a concrete roof as a precautionary measure, officials said.

Russia announces $70bn virus plan

AFP reports that Russia plans to spend about $72 billion on a plan to restore the economy following the coronavirus shutdown, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Tuesday.

The programme to boost employment, incomes and economic growth "contains over 500 measures, its cost over two years will be about five trillion rubles," Mishustin told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

Putin described the plan as a "foundation" for repairing the economy and for "long-term structural change."

"It is a matter of crucial importance for us to solve today's acute problems, as well as ensure confident movement forward in the long-term," he said.

Putin said the epidemic had "seriously impacted all spheres of life" and added that he expected to launch the recovery plan next month.

Russia has already introduced targeted tax cuts and provided some emergency aid for families, children and people newly unemployed since introducing the lockdown at the end of March.

Large sections of the economy were inactive for weeks, with some regions only recently beginning to ease anti-virus measures.

UK denies ‘sex ban’

The UK government on Tuesday defended tweaks to its coronavirus lockdown rules, after claims that a ban on overnight stays between households would criminalise sex, AFP reports. 

The new guidelines came into force on Monday, easing some restrictions on social gatherings but prohibiting two people from different households from meeting in a private place.

Some media called it an effective "bonking ban" and #sexban began trending on Twitter in Britain, with some pointing out al fresco liaisons appeared to be permitted but not indoor ones.

But housing minister Simon Clarke told LBC radio that it was not the right characterisation, and the overall aim of the measures was to protect public health and cut infection rates.

"It's vitally important, clearly, that people stay in their home and we don't have any additional transmission risk in society, and this is obviously a key step to making this sustainable," he said.

Asked whether sex was allowed outside, providing public decency laws were respected, Clarke refused to be drawn.

"It's fair to say the transmission risk for coronavirus in the open air is much lower than in internal spaces," he noted.

"We obviously do not encourage people to be doing anything like that outside at this time or any other."

The new guidelines allow groups of up to six people to meet outdoors for activities such as exercise and barbecues.

But they state: "No person may participate in a gathering which takes place in public or private place indoors, and consists of two or more persons.

Senegal delays reopening schools 

The Senegalese government has decided, on the eleventh hour, against reopening its high schools after a cluster of coronavirus infections was detected among teachers in the south of the country, AFP reports.

After some two-and-a-half months of school closures, students in the last three years of high school - 550 000 out of 3.5 million children in the education system - had been scheduled to return to their classrooms on Tuesday.

But late at night, the education ministry announced the move was being delayed "until a later date".

It said a number of coronavirus cases had been detected among teachers in Casamance, a region in Senegal's far south.

An education ministry official told the radio station RFM that 10 teachers had been infected in the Ziguinchor region, the capital area of Casamance.

In light of this, President Macky Sall "decided to postpone the return to school to a later date in order to prevent any risk of spread", the ministry said.

He called on the authorities to "continue with work that is already underway" for a resumption, the ministry said.

To date, the country has officially counted more than 3 700 coronavirus cases, including 43 deaths.

Dubai to reopen fully on Wednesday

AFP reports that shopping malls in Dubai will fully reopen for business on Wednesday, in the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions, the emirate's media office announced.

The step makes the glitzy city-state the first in the Middle East to drop nearly all restrictions to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus that hit retailers and leisure activities.

Businesses in the private sector had been allowed since last week to work at 50% capacity, but the authorities now say they can "fully operate".

Dubai's shopping centres include the Mall of the Emirates, which has its own indoor ski slope, and Dubai Mall, adjacent to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest structure.

Its neighbour Abu Dhabi, the UAE's capital, cordoned off the city and banned travel between regions in the emirate for a week starting Tuesday.

The UAE has so far recorded more than 35 000 cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease, including 269 deaths.