Truckmaker AB Volvo said on Friday it would put all its 20,000 staff in Sweden on short-term temporary lay off-scheme starting next week as it plans to close it's whole production system in the country.
Finland's national health authority questioned on Friday the World Health Organization's call on countries to test as many patients as possible for coronavirus, after the country ran out of testing capacity this week.
Mosques in Sri Lanka were shut indefinitely from Friday, and the island is set to impose a countrywide curfew over the weekend, as South Asian countries step up efforts to check the spread of COVID-19 cases.
An Olympic torch event in Japan drew hundreds of spectators on the day of the flame's arrival on Friday, creating the type of packed gathering the government and Tokyo 2020 organisers have warned against to prevent coronavirus from spreading further.
Britain has asked 65,000 former nurses and doctors to return to work and will deploy final-year medical students to fight the coronavirus health crisis, the health ministry said.
While many Muslims in Indonesia's capital accepted advice to avoid religious gatherings and prayed at home on Friday elsewhere in the world's most populous Muslim country, people ignored the risk of coronavirus and crowded into their mosques.
German restaurant chain Vapiano SE on Friday said it had opened insolvency proceedings and would apply for government assistance programs to avoid bankruptcy, blaming the corona crisis for a further drop in sales.
Oil prices rose on Friday as the world's richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy to stop a coronavirus-driven recession and U.S. President Donald Trump hinted he may intervene in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The U.S. electric industry may ask essential staff to live on site at power plants and control centers to keep operations running if the coronavirus outbreak worsens, and has been stockpiling beds, blankets, and food for them, according to industry trade groups and electric cooperatives.
Oil and gas companies are cutting spending plans in response to the new coronavirus and a push by Saudi Arabia and Russia to ramp up output.
Airlines hit hard by the travel restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic may soon present buying opportunities for investors, the co-founder of the buyout firm that owns budget carrier Frontier Airlines said in an interview.
U.S. stock index futures firmed 4% on Friday, at the end of another torrid week for financial markets that have been battered by growing evidence of the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
British Airways pilots will have to take two weeks of unpaid leave in both April and May as well as a deduction from basic pay over three months, it said in a letter to pilots on Friday.
Almost none of the British public surveyed by the Bank of England last month expected it would soon need to cut interest rates, a BoE report showed on Friday.
Deutsche Bank said on Friday that the impact of the coronavirus outbreak may affect the lender's ability to meet its financial targets as the fragile bank undergoes a major revamp after years of losses.