The day before, the US Department of Commerce issued a statement saying that the country's economy shrank by a record 4.8 percent in the first three months of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses across the country.

France's GDP contracted 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 2020, primarily due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown imposed in March, the national statistics agency stated Thursday.

According to the agency, the drop is the steepest since evaluations began being recorded in 1949 because it exceeds the 1.6 percent drop in the third quarter of 2009 and the 5.3 percent decline in the second quarter of 1968.

The agency says that the drop is caused by the stop in non-essential activities as part of the lockdown imposed in mid-March.