Global markets tumbled again over concerns about the impact on the economy and as countries took more drastic steps to prevent contagion of a disease that has killed more than 3,300 people and infected nearly 100,000 in about 85 nations. Global spread of the coronavirus. [AFP] Cases soared in Italy, France, Greece and Iran, while a cruise ship was held off the Californian coast to test passengers showing symptoms of the disease -- echoing a harrowing episode in Japan several weeks ago that saw hundreds infected on a luxury liner. The epidemic has wreaked havoc on international business, tourism, sports events and schools, with almost 300 million students sent home worldwide. ?Sanitary workers disinfect a church in Beirut, Lebanon. [AFP]
SEE ALSO :China virus cases spike, 17 new infections reported
Even religion is affected: The Vatican said Pope Francis may change his schedule, Bethlehem was placed under lockdown, and Saudi Arabia emptied Islam's holiest site in Mecca to sterilise it. Fears about the economic fallout caused stock markets in Asia to sink on Friday. China -- where the virus emerged late last year -- still accounts for the majority of cases and deaths, but infections are now rising faster abroad, with South Korea, Iran and Italy major hotspots. Saudi Arabia emptied Islam's holiest site in Mecca to sterilise it. [AFP / ABDEL GHANI BASHIR] The World Health Organization warned Thursday that a "long list" of countries were not showing political commitment needed to "match the level of the threat we all face". "This is not a drill," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, calling for "aggressive preparedness". SEE ALSO :China confirms virus spreading between humans
"This is not a time to give up. This is not a time for excuses," he said. "This is a time for pulling out all the stops." In the United States, the largest nursing union said a survey of thousands of nurses at hospitals showed "truly disturbing" results. Deserted tables in front of the Doge palace in Venice, Italy. [AFP / ANDREA PATTARO] "They show that a large percentage of our nation's hospitals are unprepared to safely handle COVID-19," said Jane Thomason, a hygiene specialist with the union. Nurses are working without necessary personal protective equipment and lack education and training for handling the disease, said National Nurses United director Bonnie Castillo. SEE ALSO :Factbox: What we know about the new coronavirus spreading in China and beyond
Emergency spending A priest closes the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, as it goes into lockdown after virus cases are confirmed. [AFP / AHMAD GHARABLI] The US Congress passed an emergency $8.3 billion spending bill to combat the coronavirus Thursday as cases surged in the country's northwest and deaths reached 12. More than 180 people are infected in the US. But President Donald Trump has downplayed the risk, saying the WHO's report of a 3.4 percent mortality rate was "false".
Health officials sounded the alarm after two passengers who had been on board during a previous voyage later fell ill, and one of them died. The ship belongs to Princess Cruises, the company that operated a coronavirus-stricken vessel held off Japan last month from which more than 700 people tested positive and six died. China imports cases A man wears a mask around his neck as he rides a subway in Manhattan, New York City. [AFP / Johannes EISELE] Cases in China have gradually fallen as tens of millions of people remain under strict quarantine to contain the virus, which first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in December. But fresh infections increased for a second consecutive day on Friday, with 143 new patients, and the number of imported cases from abroad to 36.
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