Washington (dpa) - US gross domestic product shrank 4.8 per cent in the first quarter, at an annual rate, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said on Wednesday, coming in worse than analysts' expectations.

The numbers show the worst contraction since the global financial crisis in the last quarter of 2008.

The economy, particularly in the last weeks of March, was battered hard by the new coronavirus pandemic, including the shutdowns of significant parts of the economy to help stem the spread. Consumption was particularly hard hit.

The BEA noted that the full extent of the economic effects of the coronavirus could not be quantified in the current GDP estimate.

Kevin Hasset, a senior economic advisor to President Donald Trump, warned this week the second quarter could see "something like minus 20 per cent to minus 30 per cent."

Congress has passed nearly 3 trillion dollars in stimulus to help cushion the blow. The Federal Reserve has dropped interest rates to near-zero, on top of market interventions by the central bank.

The Fed is in the middle of holding two days of meetings and will release its interest rates decision later Wednesday.

Some areas of the US have begun to reopen, and more states are expected to restart paused sectors of their economies, in phases, over the coming days and weeks.

US unemployment claims have skyrocketed to 26 million since mid-March. The latest weekly data are due to come out on Thursday.

Hundreds of billions of dollars from the stimulus were allocated for forgiveable loans to small businesses, to help keep people on the payroll, amid the slowdown.

The US is the hardest hit country in the world, in terms of raw numbers, from the coronavirus outbreak. There have been more than 1 million cases and more than 58,000 deaths.