Shares were mostly lower Monday in Asia while crude prices lost earlier gains that had come after OPEC and other oil producing nations agreed to cut output to reflect the collapse of demand due to the pandemic.

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday though Japan's benchmark fell as local leaders sparred with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government over measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Amid the nosedive in revenue collection, export earnings and remittance inflow, economists fear a burgeoning of the budget deficit in the aftermath of the pandemic and the massive steps taken to tackle it.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the first leader of a major country to test positive for the coronavirus while disturbing new outbreaks appeared in the United States, deaths surged in Italy and Spain and the world warily trudged through the pandemic that has sickened more than a half-million people.

China is speeding up construction on major infrastructure projects to mitigate the economic impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic.