Brazil's economy -- Latin America's largest -- contracted by 1.5 percent in the first quarter due to the shutdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the government reported Friday. But the contraction reflects only the early effects of the pandemic because lockdown measures that stalled the economy in the South American giant began only in mid-March. The 1.5 percent drop was in comparison to the last quarter of 2019, said the national statistics institute IBGE. When compared to the first quarter of 2019, the drop was 0.3 percent. In the first three months of this year, the service sector, manufacturing and farming all suffered major declines, the statistics agency said. Brazil has emerged as a major hotspot for the pandemic, with more than 26,000 dead and more than 400,000 cases of infection. Figures for the month of March suggest that the second quarter numbers will be catastrophic. Industrial production was down 9.1 percent compared to February, and the auto manufacturing sector declined a mind-boggling 99 percent. A poll of economists consulted by the business daily Valor said that in the second quarter Brazil's economy will shrink by a staggering 11.1 percent. js/mel/lda/dw/ft