Some say that the worst is yet to come, as last week's figures may fail to show an accurate picture.

"It's the tip of the iceberg, and they're going to be ugly. It depends on the speed at which the claims were filed, and the next week will probably be worse," chief economist at Grant Thornton, Diane Swonk, said as cited by CNBC.

Last week, new jobless claims in the US saw the biggest weekly surge in nearly eight years as they hit a two-and-a-half year high of 281,000.

Canada also saw an unprecedented jump in jobless claims. According to government sources cited by various media, 929,000 people (or around five percent of the labor force), applied for unemployment insurance last week.

Key American stock indexes opened higher on Thursday despite fresh jobs data revealing a worse than expected number of unemployment claims which has surged to over three million.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 500 points, or over two percent during early trading. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than one percent higher. Thursday's trading marked the third consecutive positive opening for US stocks, which have been on a wild ride in recent weeks.

Negative US jobs data sent European markets down, with stocks in London, Paris and Frankfurt trading nearly one percent lower. Asian markets also fell earlier in the day, with Japan's Nikkei plunging almost five percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing over one percent.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.5 percent in early trade on Thursday, with basic resources tumbling 2.7 percent to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses plunged into negative territory.

Britain's FTSE 100 index shed almost three percent at the opening bell in London. France's CAC 40 is down by 2.4 percent, while Germany's DAX slid 219 points or 2.3 percent.

Asia Pacific markets also stumbled earlier in the day, with Japan's Nikkei closing down by almost five percent.

• The Federal Reserve is contemptuous of non-elites and about to make the financial system much, much worse
• The Federal Reserve may just have given financial markets the biggest 'sell signal' in modern history
• Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve's great betrayal of America
• Will $2T fix it? Covid-19 exposes the state of America's economy and society
• The global economy was deathly sick long before now, but Covid-19 will conveniently take the blame if it crashes
• Oil majors preparing for $10 oil
• The Great Economic Depression of 2020 proves lessons not learned, central banks misfire

Tips leading to the narcotrafficking arrest or conviction of National Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello Rondon, retired generals Hugo Carvajal Barrios and Clive Alcala Cordones, or Minister for Industry and National Production Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah can net as much as $10 million, the statement continued.

The rewards were unveiled on the same day as the US Justice Department unsealed indictments against the Venezuelan leaders for the same drug trafficking crimes - suggesting that Washington's evidence isn't as solid as Attorney General William Barr has claimed.

If evidence against Maduro and his compatriots is at such a premium that the State Department will pay $15 million for it, the Venezuelans are unlikely to see the inside of a US court anytime soon.

• Maduro: Suspended rent payments, increased wage protections as coronavirus cases reach 77 in Venezuela
• Venezuela FM rebukes Washington for barring emergency repatriation flight for 800+ citizens 'stranded' in US amid Covid-19 crisis

Saudi whistle-blower Mujtahid, who is believed to be a member of or have a well-connected source in the royal family, revealed that several soldiers fighting under Riyadh's command against Yemen have been infected with the new deadly coronavirus.

"Coronavirus has reached Jizzan and Najran too and a large number of Yemeni military men who are fighting under the Saudi-led coalition's flag have been infected with coronavirus. There is no investigation and no data on the number of the Yemeni and coalition forces who have been in contact with these infected people."

Mujtahid had also last week disclosed that Riyadh was hiding the data related to the coronavirus cases in the country, saying that thousands were infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia.

"The Saudi officials conceal the real number of people infected with coronavirus and the number now stands at thousands and even tens of thousands," Mujtahid wrote on his twitter page on Sunday. He added that over 5,000 people in Qatif and over 900 others in Mecca had been infected with the COVID-19 virus, saying that the number was higher in Riyadh but the data were concealed.

Could be, but these numbers sound greatly inflated or made up, given statistics in other countries. Why would Saudi Arabia's be off the chart? FYI: Mujtahid has been leaking Saudi information since at least 2015.

Mujtahid said that al-Riyadh specialized hospital had been evacuated to run as a coronavirus patient center, but in essence, it has been equipped to receive the royal family and officials in case of infection to the lethal virus.

Saudi Arabia confirmed its first coronavirus-related death on Tuesday. It was confirmed that a 51-year-old Afghan-Saudi resident was the one who succumbed to the new deadly COVID-19 in Medina. The Persian Gulf country has so far reported over 800 cases of the coronavirus.

The Wahhabi kingdom had already imposed strict measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including suspension of international flights, closing schools and universities and temporarily closing off the eastern province of Qatif, which has most of the country's COVID-19 cases.