Even so, domestic consumption in South Korea dropped by 6.4 percent during the first quarter, the data said, as people stayed home to avoid getting sick. Exports fell by 2 percent despite an increase in shipments of semiconductors, one of the pillars of the country’s economy.

Although the damage to the economy this quarter was relatively mild compared with other countries, it is likely to deepen next quarter, when the data will more clearly reflect the sharp drop in demand from other countries hard hit by the virus, said Lee Geun-tae, a senior research fellow at the LG Economic Research Institute.

More than 100 public companies got millions in small-business loans.

As Congress prepares to restock a depleted small-business loan fund, complaints are mounting about the publicly traded companies that sucked up hundreds of millions of dollars from the fund’s initial distributions.

More than 100 public companies obtained more than $500 million in forgivable loans from the taxpayer-backed Paycheck Protection Program, based on a New York Times analysis of corporate filings. The recipients included Potbelly Sandwich Shop, a chain of 400 restaurants; Hallador Energy, a coal company; and Quantum Corporation, a data storage company, according to regulatory filings. Each received $10 million from the program’s $349 billion fund. (The restaurant chain Shake Shack returned its $10 million loan.)

Kura Sushi USA, a chain of sushi restaurants, is returning the roughly $6 million it got from the federal small business paycheck protection loan program, it said in a securities filing on Wednesday. A publicly traded company, it is controlled by its former Japanese parent firm, raising questions about whether companies based outside of the United States were benefiting from the forgivable loans established by Congress.

Hotels and luxury resorts that funnel money back to a single company have secured about $40 million in small-business program funding, the latest evidence that large sums of money flowing from the government’s relief program are in some cases helping big businesses.

Ashford Inc., an asset management firm based in Dallas, makes money partly by advising two real estate investment trusts: Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts, which together own more than 100 properties. Those companies reported that their hotel properties had received millions in forgivable loans through a government program meant to help small businesses.