Health

South Korea urged citizens on Saturday to stay indoors as it warned of a "critical moment" in its battle on the coronavirus after recording the biggest daily jump in infections, as 813 new cases took the tally to 3,150.

Mexico's government said on Friday it had detected three cases of coronavirus infection in three men who had all recently traveled to Italy, making the country the second in Latin America to register the fast-spreading virus.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first generic version of Daraprim, a drug used to treat a disease resulting from a parasite infection.

The latest confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States, diagnosed in a California woman, is of "unknown origin" and was found in a patient who had not traveled overseas or had contact with any known travelers, local health officials said on Friday.

New York health officials are trying to get their own coronavirus testing kits up and running after getting stuck with faulty tests from the federal government that they said left them unable to diagnose people quickly in the nation's most populous city.

The rapid rise in coronavirus raised fears of a pandemic on Friday, with five countries reporting their first cases, the World Health Organization warning it could spread worldwide and Switzerland cancelling the giant Geneva car show.

Mexico's government said on Friday it had detected the first cases of coronavirus infection in two men who had recently traveled to Italy, making the country the second in Latin America to register the virus.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday the United States has offered to help with the coronavirus response in Iran, where the outbreak has killed 34 people, and raised doubts about Tehran's willingness to share information.

Moscow authorities are deporting 88 foreign nationals who violated quarantine measures imposed on them as a precaution against coronavirus, the RIA news agency cited Moscow's deputy mayor as saying on Friday.

A British man who was infected by the coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan has died, bringing the death toll among people who were aboard the vessel to six, Japan's government said on Friday.

French fashion house Agnes B said on Friday it has canceled its March 2 Paris show due to coronavirus worries.

Roman Catholic authorities in Jerusalem have instructed their priests to give communion by hand only, rather than placing the wafers on worshippers' tongues, and to empty holy water fonts - as precautions against the spread of the coronavirus.

Iran announced on Friday the closure of all schools for three days from Saturday because of concerns about a coronavirus outbreak that has killed 34 people in the country.

Nigeria's first confirmed coronovirus case entered the country on a Turkish Airlines flight that traveled via Istanbul, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health told a news conference on Friday.

South Korea reported 571 new coronavirus cases on Friday, its biggest daily increase in infections that takes its total to 2,337, the largest outbreak outside China where the epidemic began late last year.

A British man who was aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked in Yokohama, Japan, has died from coronavirus, Kyodo news reported on Friday.

An Italian man who has been confirmed as Nigeria's first coronavirus case after arriving from Milan was in the country for almost two full days before being isolated, travelled through Lagos and visited another state.

Angry Japanese parents joined bewildered teachers and businesses on Friday in a rush to find new ways to live and work for a month after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's shock call for all schools to close in a bid to stop coronavirus spreading.

Guests at two Abu Dhabi hotels who interacted with two Italian professional cyclists with coronavirus have been placed under quarantine in the hotels, the state news agency of the United Arab Emirates WAM reported on Friday.

Romania confirmed two more cases of coronavirus on Friday, raising the total number of cases to three since Wednesday, Deputy Health Minister Nelu Tataru.