A man stands in front of an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, March 19, 2020. Shares in Asia failed to hold onto opening gains on Thursday, skidding further after the latest selloff on Wall Street. (KOJI SASAHARA / AP)

HONG KONG - World leaders raced to shore up panic-stricken global markets on Thursday, pouring liquidity into the financial system as investors everywhere dumped assets, switching to dollars in cash amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic.

Policymakers in the United States, Europe and Asia resorted to emergency action as the pandemic left their economies virtually comatose, with quarantined consumers, broken supply chains, paralyzed transportation and depleted shops.

There were almost 219,000 cases of coronavirus reported globally, including over 8,900 deaths linked to the virus. Over 20,000 of those cases were reported in the past 24 hours, a new daily record.

Despite those moves, which together with other liquidity injections and stimulus announced in recent weeks reached levels unseen since World War Two, nearly every stock market in Asia was in the red

The European Central Bank launched new bond purchases worth 750 billion euros (US$817 billion) at an emergency meeting late on Wednesday, in a bid to prevent a deep recession that threatened to outdo the 2008-09 global financial crisis.

READ MORE: ECB to print 1 trillion euro this year to stem coronavirus rout

In the United States, the Federal Reserve rolled out its third emergency credit program in two days, aimed at keeping the US$3.8 trillion money market mutual fund industry functioning if investors made rapid withdrawals.

On Sunday, the Fed slashed interest rates to near zero and pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in asset purchases, while US President Donald Trump’s administration drew up a US$1 trillion stimulus and rescue proposal.

The desperate state of industry was writ large in Detroit, where the big three automakers - Ford Motor Co, General Motors Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV- confirmed they would be shutting US plants, as well as factories in Canada and Mexico.

The British pound plunged to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985, as Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he would not rule anything out when asked about printing money to give to individuals. 

Britain ordered all schools to close from Friday as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose 48% on Wednesday. 

Australia made a historic foray into quantitative easing after an out-of-schedule meeting on Thursday and cut interest rates for the second time in a month.

Central banks in emerging countries from Brazil to India have stepped in this week to buy government bonds to prevent a jump in borrowing costs

South Korea warned of a global credit crunch and said it was setting up crisis funds to stabilize its financial markets.

Central banks in emerging countries from Brazil to India have stepped in this week to buy government bonds to prevent a jump in borrowing costs that would put more pressure on their economies.

Despite those moves, which together with other liquidity injections and stimulus announced in recent weeks reached levels unseen since World War Two, nearly every stock market in Asia was in the red, with Seoul, Jakarta and Manila hitting daily loss limits that trigger the suspension of trade.

ALSO ERAD: Cash is king as emergency stimulus fails to stop market panic

At one point the Philippines bourse was down 24%. In currency markets, everything except the dollar and the euro collapsed.

JP Morgan economists forecast the US economy to shrink 14% in the next quarter.

“We’re in this phase where investors are just looking to liquidate,” said Prashant Newnaha, senior interest rate strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.