Washington DC, March 19: COVID-19 outbreak has triggered a tide of United States workers registering for state jobless benefits. Several states have reported a sharp rise in applications as businesses shut down and unemployed Americans are looking for a payment lifeline. In Ohio, more than 78,000 people applied for jobless claims during the first three days of the week. The tally for the same period during last week was around 3,000. Donald Trump Signs Coronavirus Economic Relief Bill To Provide Free Testing of COVID-19, Insurance and Paid Leave.

Pennsylvania filers have submitted about 30,000 new claims since Monday, compared with about 2,500 all last week. Similarly, in Michigan 5,400 people sought unemployment aid on Monday, though it normally receives around 1,450 jobless claims a week, The Wall Street Journal reported. COVID-19 Outbreak: Two US Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams Test Positive for Coronavirus.

Kentucky received about 9,000 initial claims on Tuesday. The recent surge is Jobless claims comes after the US government ordered working-class people, students and shopper to stay at home in view of COVID-19 spread.

“The really scary numbers are probably coming in next week’s release. You have a lot of workers who work for businesses where, all of a sudden, money’s not coming in,” Martha Gimbel, manager of economic research at Schmidt Futures, was quoted as saying by WSJ.

The number of coronavirus cases in the United States surged more than 9,000, with hundreds of cases coming each day. While 106 people have recovered from the illness, 150 deaths have been reported including 68 in Washington, 20 in New York, 16 California and 8 in Florida.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 19, 2020 09:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).