According to the flash report from IHS Markit, the eurozone economy suffered the steepest falls in business activity and employment ever recorded during April as a result of measures taken to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The Eurozone Composite PMI plummeted to an all-time low of 13.5 in April, down from a prior record low of 29.7 in March, to indicate by far the largest monthly collapse in output recorded in over two decades of survey data collection. By comparison, the lowest reading seen during the global financial crisis was 36.2, reached in February 2009.

The COVID-19 pandemic was widely blamed for the deterioration, with April having seen an intensification of efforts to contain the virus outbreak across the continent. Lockdown measures included widespread temporary business closures and draconian restrictions on citizens' movement.

The service sector bore the brunt of the impact from the lockdown measures, with the business activity index sliding from 26.4 in March to just 11.7 in April. Manufacturing also saw a record fall in production, the output index slumping from 38.5 in March to 18.4, with many non-essential businesses having closed and others reporting either dramatically reduced demand or being constrained by shortages of staff and inputs.

Overall inflows of new business fell at the steepest rates yet recorded in both manufacturing and services, resulting in a record depletion of overall backlogs of work. An unprecedented fall in service sector backlogs was accompanied by a near alltime record reduction in manufacturing.

Expectations of output in the coming 12 months dropped marginally below the previous nadir seen in March thanks to a new record degree of pessimism in manufacturing.