World coronavirus dispatch: US firms slashing costs; salary cuts at Disney

From Spain's death toll dropping, to Branson saying his airlines would go bust without govt support, and how using masks is altering the way we communicate - read these and more in today's dispatch

In a sure sign that a major economic crisis is at hand, Goldman Sachs has said S&P500 listed companies might slash their spending by 33 per cent this year. This will have a massive cascading impact on businesses – from software to advertising and even workspaces – that sell to these companies. A similar pullback in spending is expected across corporate majors in Europe and Asia, too. Read about it here.

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total confirmed cases: 2,417,977

Change over previous day: 70,102

Total deaths: 166,066

Total recovered: 3,882,022

Nations hit with most cases: