What you need to know about coronavirus

There are now over 98,000 coronavirus cases globally and more than 3,300 people have died, according to a Reuters tally.

China’s central province of Hubei, excluding its provincial capital Wuhan, reported zero new cases over 24 hours for the first time during the outbreak.

Elsewhere in China, authorities are continuing efforts to contain imported infections.

The US Congress approved a $8.3 billion bill to battle coronavirus. The bill now goes to Trump’s office for final approval.

Test kits were flown to the idled Grand Princess cruise ship off San Francisco, where at least 35 people have developed flu-like symptoms, after the vessel was linked to two other confirmed cases.

Test kits were flown to the idled Grand Princess cruise ship off San Francisco, where at least 35 people have developed flu-like symptoms, after the vessel was linked to two other confirmed cases.

The death toll from an outbreak in Italy has risen by 41 over the past 24 hours to 148, the Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday, with the contagion in Europe’s worst-hit country showing no sign of slowing.

Companies in the healthcare, technology and financial services sectors could continue to gain market share regardless of any economic disruptions from the outbreak, fund managers from the winners of the US Lipper Fund Awards say.

A global gross domestic product could be slashed by 0.1%-0.4%, with financial losses forecast to reach between $77 billion and $347 billion, the Asian Development Bank said. 

Parents, caretakers, medical experts and politicians were left gobsmacked when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a nationwide school closure on February 27.

The policy has been roundly criticised as counterintuitive, disruptive and risky given it has pushed tens of thousands of pupils into daycare centres instead, which now have to improvise measures to try to stop the children from contracting the illness.

"We have the children spend all day at the same seat, eating their snacks and lunches there too," Stella Kids manager Ikuyo Kamimura said.

"They face the same direction so they don’t get infected by droplets."

The symptoms of the Wuhan virus are similar to that of flu or a common cold. The symptoms of the coronavirus include a runny nose, headache, cough and a sore throat. The patients infected with coronavirus had pneumonia, most had a fever, 80 percent of them were coughing and more than half had trouble breathing. Identifying coronavirus symptoms is all the more important and difficult because of a simultaneous epidemic of seasonal flu, which has similar symptoms.

Iran confirms 1,234 new cases. The number of those who have recovered from the disease has reached more than 913. The total number of people killed due to this virus are124. The country has closed schools and universities until early April in a bid to contain the virus.

There are now over 98,000 coronaviruses cases globally and more than 3,300 people have died, according to a sources tally. At the current rate of increase, that means that cases will top the 100,000 mark sometime later on Friday. There are 3,385 virus-linked deaths globally, including over 3,000 in China, 148 in Italy and 107 in Iran. Some 85 countries outside China have reported infections, with South Africa, Bosnia, Serbia and Bhutan signalling first cases in the past 24 hours.