The economic downturn in the US triggered by the pandemic has been officially declared a recession.

The National Bureau of Economic Research made the designation on Tuesday, citing the scale and severity of the current contraction.

It said activity and employment hit a "clear" and "well-defined" peak in February, before falling.

The ruling puts a formal end to what had been more than a decade of expansion - the longest in US history.

Despite the bad news, shares on Wall Street closed sharply higher on Monday thanks to action taken by the US central bank to prop up the financial sector.

BBC