Governments around the world are scrambling to introduce measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, which is growing globally even as transmission in China where the virus originated at the end of last year continues to show signs of slowing.
There are more more than 90,000 cases confirmed around the world – the overwhelming majority in China – but as deaths are reported in Italy, Iran and the United States authorities are considering new quarantine zones and travel restrictions.
In South Korea, where the president has declared ‘war’ on COVID-19, some 516 new cases were announced on Wednesday morning bringing the total to 5,328.
That’s nearly five times more cases than were confirmed in China’s latest daily tally of 119. The country has instituted draconian measures to curb movement and limit freedoms as it tries to end the outbreak with more than 50 million people still sealed off in the central province of Hubei and its capital, Wuhan.
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Here are the latest updates:
Wednesday, March 4
03:50 GMT – Air New Zealand deep cleaning three planes after COVID-19 case
Air New Zealand is deep cleaning three of its planes after it was confimed a woman diagnosed with the country’s first case of COVID-19 travelled on its flight from Singapore to Auckland, as well as on two regional flights.
In a statement on its website, the airline’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Ben Johnston said the airline was working with the Ministry of Health to identify and contact passengers who were on the flights.
He added that its aircraft are already subject to a thorough cleaning process, including tray tables and inflight entertainment screens, with a disinfectant that kills viruses.
“We also remove all headsets, headrest covers, pillow covers, and blankets after every international flight. Domestic and regional services surfaces and bathrooms are wiped with disinfectant spray.”
02:50 GMT – South Korea’s Moon calls off Middle East trip
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has called off a planned trip to the UAE, Egypt and Turkey in mid-March because of the coronavirus, according to the presidential Blue House.
“In response to the recent nationwide spread of COVID-19, we have decided not to go ahead with trips,” spokesman Kang Min-seok said in a statement.
The outbreak in South Korea is the largest outside China.
02:45 GMT – Olympics will go ahead as planned
Sports events around the world have been cancelled as a result of the coronavirus, fuelling speculation on the fate of the Olympics, which are due to start in Japan in a few months time.
This morning, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told journalists Japan was planning to hold the games as planned.
On Tuesday, Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto noted there could be a delay under Japan’s contract with the International Olympic Committee.
01:50 GMT Further slowdown in China
China’s data continues to show the outbreak there is slowing. The country reported 119 new confirmed cases to the end of March 3, compared with 125 the day before.
It’s now had 80,270 cases since the virus first appeared in Wuhan late last year.
An additional 38 people died on March 3, bringing the death toll in mainland China to 2,981.
01:40 GMT Further spike in South Korea cases
Latest data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 516 new cases of coronavirus in the northeast Asian country – a day after President Moon Jae-in declared ‘war’ on the infection.
South Korea now has 5,328 cases with 32 deaths in the largest outbreak outside China.
The KCDC updates the data twice a day.
00:15 GMT – Nursing home worker confirmed with virus in Australia
A woman who works in a nursing home in northern Sydney has been confirmed to have the coronavirus, raising concerns for the elderly people who live there.
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper says the woman is in her 50s and picked up the virus locally – the third such case in Australia.
00:00 GMT – Australian supermarkets ration toilet roll
Australia’s biggest supermarkets are rationing toilet paper after a wave of panic-buying.
Woolworths said in a statement on Wednesday that it was introducing a limit of four packs of toilet paper for each shopper, including online customers.
“It will help shore up stock levels as suppliers ramp up local production and deliveries in response to higher than usual demand,” the statement said.
The country manager for Costco, Patrick Noone, a membership-based grocery discounter, said it was allowing customers only one pack of toilet paper, following an “influx of people in warehouses across the country in the past week ‘stocking up’.”
Costco had also put limits on purchases of milk, eggs, rice and disinfecting and soap products, he added in an email to Reuters.
#toiletpapergate and #toiletpapercrisis were the top two trends on Twitter in Australia on Wednesday.
Australians are not the only ones panic-buying. We have also seen it happen in Singapore and Indonesia. And on Tuesday, it seems New Yorkers were clearing the shelves of cleaning products.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s live blog on the coronavirus outbreak that is spreading around the world.
I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur, taking over from my colleague Usaid Siddiqui.
A recap of Tuesday’s significant developments:
The number of deaths surged in Italy. It is now the country with the most deaths in the world outside China. The government there is considering new quarantine zones to tackle the virus.
Worrying developments in Iran too, where 77 people have died and more than 2,000 have been confirmed to have the infection.
In the United States, the death toll now stands at nine with the outbreak centred on a nursing home but there are concerns the infection may have been spreading in the community for some time.
In more positive news, the number of new cases in China appears to be slowing. The World Health Organization says our understanding of the new virus is rapidly increasing and more governments are announcing concrete plans to deal with the outbreak.
Click here to read updates from Tuesday, March 3.
