The share of apartment households that paid April rent dipped 12 percent from March, a leading apartment industry trade group found in its first review of the pandemic's effect on rent payments.

According to a tracker created by the National Multifamily Housing Council, 69 percent of apartment households paid rent through April 5. That's a 12 percent decrease from the 81 percent of such households that paid by March 5, and a 13 percent decrease from the 82 percent that paid this time last year.

Doug Bibby, president of NMHC, said in a statement that despite the challenges COVID-19 poses for many renters, "it is important to note that a large number of residents met their obligations despite unparalleled circumstances, and we will see that figure increase over the coming weeks."

The NMHC tracker reflects data from 13.4 million units across the U.S. The data comes as federal, state and local governments have scrambled to enact policies to keep renters who've been hit by the outbreak's economic hardships from being evicted while treading carefully around measures that could adversely affect landlords and the real estate market at large.

In Turkmenistan, a repressive former Soviet state that claims to have zero cases of coronavirus, residents gathered on April 7 to celebrate World Health Day.

In the nation’s capital, Ashgabat, state television showed hundreds of people wearing identical tracksuits conducting coordinated exercise in close quarters. Even medical personnel took part in the celebrations, which at one point were led by President Gerbanguly Berdimuhamedow, according to Turkmen state media. 

Berdimuhamedow early in the coronavirus crisis claimed that his own writings on local flora contained a cure for the virus in the form of a local herb. There have been reports suggesting that talk of the virus has been banned in Turkmenistan, a nation that borders Iran — which has suffered from one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday released data on the racial breakdown of coronavirus fatalities in the city, saying the numbers showed "blatant inequalities" and that the city "won’t accept it."

The Hispanic community has been hit the hardest with 34 percent of the deaths, while Hispanics make up 29 percent of the city's population; 28 percent of the deaths have been black people, while 22 percent of the city is black; 27 percent of the deaths have been white people, while 32 percent of the city is white; Asian deaths are at 7 percent of the total, while 14 percent of New York city's population is Asian. 

"The truth is, in so many ways, the pain and death tracks with other profound health care disparities that we have seen for years and decades in this city," de Blasio said. "Folks who struggled before are really being hit particularly hard by the coronavirus." 

He added that the disparities are "so often associated with poverty" and the numbers are "painful to talk about, but we have to be honest about it." 

De Blasio said the city is combatting the disturbing trend by making sure public hospitals have what they need, deploying a multi-million dollar, multi-lingual public awareness campaign focuses on communities of color, grassroots outreach, and a system in which residents can quickly get in touch with a physician from their homes. 

To equip the public hospitals, and private ones too, de Blasio said the city needs 1,450 military medical personnel and a staggering 9.2 million surgical gowns from the federal government. About 300 military personnel have arrived and been dispatched to hospitals.

President Donald Trump's personal fortune has fallen by around $1 billion after social distancing lockdowns forced the closure of several of his properties, including golf courses, hotels, and other real estate holdings.

Trump's net worth slumped from an estimated $3.1 billion to $2.1 billion in the month of March, according to data compiled by Forbes as part of its annual billionaires list.

Around 1,500 Trump Organization employees have been laid off or furloughed, The Washington Post reported last week.

Trump continues to push for a reopening of at least sections of the economy as soon as possible, telling Fox News on Tuesday, “We’re also looking at the concept where you open up everything."

Among the more than 5,000 people who have died from the coronavirus in New York state are 41 MTA workers, according to chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye.

"We mourn the loss of every one of our 41 colleagues," he said on the radio station WCBS 880.

About 1,500 employees, including Foye himself, have tested positive for the virus. 

"I happen to be one of those, but the real loss is the grieving that we're doing at the MTA and the families of the 41 MTA colleagues who have been killed by the virus," he said.

Since March 1, the MTA has distributed 300,000 N95 respiratory masks and an additional 160,000 surgical masks to employees, Foye told radio host Steve Scott. More than two million gloves have also been provided to workers. 

"We're going to continue to do that, we've got enough supplies to do that on a daily and weekly basis as long as the pandemic continues, and I think that has been an important thing and protecting the health of our colleagues at the MTA," Foye said. 

President Vladimir Putin urged Russians to keep up with self-isolation on Wednesday, saying that he understood the usual rhythm of daily life had been "disrupted" but that the strain of coping with the coronavirus outbreak would pass.

"I understand that we all have already accumulated fatigue...For most people, being constantly within four walls is, as they say, dreary and nauseating. But there is no choice now," he said on state television, ahead of a teleconference with regional leaders.

Some 68 people have died so far in Russia, according to an NBC News tally. Putin also called for more financial measures to support businesses during the crisis. 

The U.S. and U.K. governments have issued a joint warning that hackers are trying to exploit the coronavirus pandemic.

“The techniques used by attackers prey on people’s appetite for information and curiosity towards the outbreak, with phishing emails and SMS messages using the virus as a lure to trick people into revealing credentials or downloading malicious software,” Homeland Security warned in an emailed statement.

Hackers from the Chinese, Iranian and Russian governments began using coronavirus-themed emails to break into their targets from the onset of the pandemic, analysts have said. But this is the first major, formal warning from the U.S. and U.K. governments that their residents are regularly targeted with coronavirus-themed phishing attempts, both by foreign governments and criminal hackers.

Common subject lines for phishing emails include “2020 Coronavirus Updates” and “2019-nCov: New confirmed cases in your City.” The US compiled a list of more than 2,500 coronavirus-themed URLs that are potentially dangerous, with names like covid19statistics.com and iamacoronavirussurvivorof2020.info.