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U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday declared the coronavirus pandemic an emergency by invoking a law known as the Stafford Act.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday declared the island a disaster area because of the threat of coronavirus infection and said his country is seeking 100 Cuban nurses to help it to cope.

Australia's prime minister canceled plans to go to a rugby game on Saturday after a senior minister was diagnosed with COVID-19, while the nation's treasurer called a second crisis meeting over the rapidly growing economic threat from the coronavirus.

South Korea reported more recoveries from the coronavirus than new infections on Saturday for the second day is a row, as a downward trend in daily cases raised hopes that Asia's biggest epidemic outside China may be slowing.

The Associated Press is temporarily closing its office from Friday in Washington, D.C. after one of its staff journalists, who had direct contact with a possible coronavirus patient, showed some symptoms of illness, the AP reported.

Major sports events around the world that have been hit by the coronavirus outbreak:

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cautioned that more families will lose their loved ones to the coronavirus but has taken a distinctly different approach to tackling the outbreak.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus to free up $50 billion in federal aid to combat a disease that has infected over 138,000 people worldwide and left more than 5,000 dead.

As President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, the coronavirus pandemic pushed Los Angeles and Chicago to suspend classes, delayed two of the country's best-known sporting events and triggered a run on food supplies at some grocery stores.

San Francisco, the California city know for its cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge, on Friday banned non-essential events of over 100 people through April 30, tightening an existing ban on public gatherings as the fight to contain the rapidly spreading coronavirus intensified.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking court permission to reconsider certain aspects of its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp, court filings showed on Thursday.

Mexico has registered a rise in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 26 from 15 a day earlier, the Mexican health ministry on Friday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc's coronavirus test, which would allow the firm to increase capacity to 1.4 million tests a week, a Trump administration official said.

The U.S. State Department summoned the Chinese ambassador to the United States on Friday to protest against comments by Beijing suggesting the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to Wuhan, as tensions between the two global powers over the outbreak intensified.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak, reported just five new cases on Friday, the second day in a row the tally has been less than 10, while no locally transmitted infections were reported in the rest of the country.

Panama's Health Minister Rosario Turner on Friday said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Central American country has risen to 36, and includes three foreigners.

Guatemala has extended a ban on arrivals from countries more heavily affected by the coronavirus outbreak to include the United States and Canada, President Alejandro Giammattei said on Friday.

Canadian authorities on Friday ramped up measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak and announced emergency measures, including a surprise half-point interest rate cut, to take the edge off the economic impact.

Canada advised its citizens on Friday to avoid non-essential travel abroad, saying new restrictions enforced by other countries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus could delay a return to the country.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Guinea and Mauritania all confirmed their first cases of the new coronavirus on Friday, giving the disease a foothold in 19 countries on the African continent.