Coronavirus spreads rapidly outside China as US reports 6 deaths 

The deadly coronavirus has killed more than 3,000 people, the vast majority in mainland China even as 61 countries across our globe are grappling with the outbreak. There are now more than 88,000 global cases, with infections on every continent except Antarctica.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization said “in the last 24 hours, there were almost nine times more cases reported outside China than inside China. The epidemic in the Republic of Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are our greatest concern.

France has confirmed a total of 191 cases of Covid-19. This is a steep rise from yesterday. The country confirmed 61 cases in the last 24 hours.

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Senegal has reported its first case of coronavirus. In South Asia, Pakistan has recorded its fifth case of Covid-19. The government of Gilgit-Baltistan has shut down all its schools and colleges. Pakistan remains vulnerable as it shares porous borders with Iran which is currently one of the worst-hit outside mainland China.

Meanwhile, Twitter has asked its employees to work from home amid the coronavirus outbreak. The US has confirmed the death of six people due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, all in Washington.

According to experts, the death toll is likely to rise in the coming days as the virus might spread to other states. However, US President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence are hopeful that the country is at the low level of risk and they will be able to combat the Covid-19 from becoming a pandemic in the country.

"We're also working with Congress to ensure that America has what it needs to respond to this challenge. Great challenge. But everybody is responding very well. Since the start of the outbreak, my administration has taken the most aggressive action in history to protect our citizens including closing our borders very early, a lot earlier than people wanted us to do, and that turned out to be a good decision," US President Donald Trump said.

Italy has become a hotbed of coronavirus. The country has recorded 52 deaths and over 2,000 cases have been recorded. Amid outbreak in Milan, university students have begun their semesters at home -- attending digital lectures.

Teachers are recording sessions which are being streamed online by the students at homes.

Many schools which have been shut down have set-up websites and email that have allowed teachers and pupils to stay in touch and exchange lessons and homework. Around 85 Indian students stuck in Italy have sent an SOS seeking evacuation at the earliest. These are students stuck in the town of Pavia, in the Lombardy region which is the epicentre of the coronavirus in Italy. Some of these students had booked flights to India which were cancelled in the wake of the virus outbreak.