Here are other developments:

NBA to suspend season

The NBA is suspending the 2019-20 season. The announcement came after a player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus.

The league announced the decision, which will go into effect after Wednesday’s slate of games, after a bizarre scene in Oklahoma City, where a game between the Thunder and the Jazz was cancelled seconds before tipoff.

“The NBA announced that a player on the Utah Jazz has preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19. The test result was reported shortly prior to the tipoff of tonight’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. At that time, tonight’s game was cancelled. The affected player was not in the arena,” the league said in a statement. “The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”

Coronavirus: what the WHO pandemic declaration means

Tom Hanks tests positive

Hollywood actor Tom Hanks said that he and his wife Rita Wilson have both tested positive for coronavirus. The Academy Award-winning actor posted on his Instagram account that he was tested positive while in Australia.

His post read:

“Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.

Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?”

Hanks was in Australia filming an Elvis Presley biopic, in which he is playing the role of Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s long-term manager.

It is believed the couple had been staying at a nearby luxury hotel. Work on the film has been halted following the diagnosis.

As of Thursday, Australia has more than 120 confirmed coronavirus cases. Three Australians have died.

Coronavirus cluster fears in UK Parliament as WHO declares pandemic

Duterte places Manila in lockdown

n a nationally televised address, Duterte approved a month of school closures, ban on mass gatherings and a prohibition on the entry of foreigners from places where the contagion is spreading.

Duterte also said Chinese President Xi Jinping had written a letter to him to offer help.

“If things deteriorate, I may have to call on China to help,” he said. “Maybe we will need your help, President Xi.”

On Saturday, the Philippines confirmed its first domestic transmission of the virus, which has killed two people and infected 53.

China says peak of outbreak has passed

China’s health authorities said the country has passed the peak of the novel-coronavirus outbreak, as it reported 15 additional infections on the mainland, a new low in daily new cases.

The statement by a National Health Commission spokesman came as the World Health Organisation labelled the outbreak of the virus a pandemic, pointing to nearly 120,000 cases in over 110 countries with some 4,300 deaths.

Touting its epidemic control efforts as having “turned the tide”, the Chinese government is now encouraging factories and businesses to resume work in lower-risk areas, including in worst-hit Hubei Province in central China.

But the government’s unprecedented quarantine and lockdown measures have taken a severe toll on the world’s second-largest economy, with various industries reporting biggest-ever monthly declines in sales and other business indicators.

Singapore closes mosques

Singapore will close all mosques for at least five days for deep cleaning to prevent the spread of coronavirus after a number of congregants in the city state attended an Islamic conference in neighbouring Malaysia linked to infections.

A number of other religious groups have cancelled physical gatherings in Singapore in recent weeks to try and halt the spread of a virus that has infected 178 people in the city state.

Iran confirms 75 more deaths, seeks US$5 billion loan

Iran announced on Thursday that another 75 people had died, bringing the overall number of deaths to 429 out of more than 10,000 infections.

“Seventy-five people hospitalised in the past few days have lost their lives and today a total of 429 infected people are no longer with us,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference.

Iran’s Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati said the country had requested an emergency US$5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to combat the outbreak. Iran’s economy has been battered by US sanctions, which have choked Tehran’s ability to sell its oil.

The recent outbreak of the virus there has compounded its economic woes, with all of Iran’s neighbours closing their borders to Iranians and multiple nations cutting travel links with Iran, including shipping in some cases, which is affecting imports, as well.

EU leaders take aim at Trump travel ban

“The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent, and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” EU presidents Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel said.

“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the US decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation. The European Union is taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.”

Hong Kong tourist had contact with new Thai cases

All of the new patients had socialised and shared drinks, health officials said, adding that a tourist from Hong Kong had been the source of the infection.

“The Hong Kong tourist came alone and already went back. The 11 infected are all Thai,” said Sopon Iamsirithawon, director general of the Communicable Diseases Department.

It was the biggest jump in cases for weeks in Thailand, which was one of the first countries outside China to report infections.

Infected Britons found in Cambodia

Cambodia on Thursday found three British nationals infected with the coronavirus on a tourist boat on the Mekong River, bringing its tally of cases to five, the Ministry of Health said.

A 73-year old British tourist and his 69-year old wife on the boat, which the ministry identified as Viking Cruise Journey, docked in Kampong Cham province, north of the capital, Phnom Penh, tested positive on Wednesday, the ministry said.

A 65-year old British woman from the boat had tested positive on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.

The tourist vessel, which travelled up the Mekong river from neighbouring Vietnam, had 61 others on board who have tested negative for the virus and are being monitored in isolation on land.

New clusters in South Korea

The new cases bring the country’s total to 7,869, with 66 deaths, as health officials seek to track down and contain a number of new clusters of infections.

“It is too early to say we are overcoming the disease,” Yoon Tae-ho, director general for public health policy, said at a briefing. “We are still witnessing sporadic outbreaks so we cannot lower our guard.”

New clusters at the call centre in the capital Seoul, and among teachers and students of a dance school with classes around the country, have kept authorities on high alert for a fresh spike in infections.

Malaysia suspends mass gatherings

Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has reported 149 infections of the virus, are tracking about 5,000 citizens who took part in the gathering of Islamic missionaries from February 28 to March 1 at a mosque in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

“All mass gatherings should be postponed to minimise the spread of Covid-19,” the health ministry said on Twitter, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Eleven of the cases linked to the meeting have cropped up in people in Brunei who attended the meeting – Brunei’s first cases of the coronavirus. Some 90 people from Brunei attended.

Najib trial suspended

Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak’s corruption trial was halted after his defence team were reportedly ordered to self-quarantine over fears about the coronavirus. Najib and his cronies are accused of looting billions of dollars from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and using it to finance a global spending spree.

The allegations played a major part in Najib losing power in 2018, and he has since been arrested and is facing multiple trials over the scandal. He denies wrongdoing. The legal process has moved slowly, however – and Najib’s main trial was hit by yet another delay Thursday when his defence lawyers failed to turn up in court.

The Kuala Lumpur court heard that they had been ordered to go into quarantine, local media reported, citing one of their colleagues. This was because the lead lawyer had recently come into contact with his sister-in-law, and one of her colleagues was then diagnosed with the virus, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.

“The spread of the virus is faster than the speed of this trial,” the judge reportedly joked, before ordering Najib’s team to provide letters from a doctor confirming the claims.

Brazilian official who met Trump testing for coronavirus

A Brazilian government official who attended an official meeting at Donald Trump’s resort in Florida on Saturday and posted a photo of himself standing next to the US president is being tested for coronavirus, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said on Wednesday.

Fabio Wajngarten is Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s communications secretary and he accompanied the far-right leader on a visit to Florida that included dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

In response to the article, Wajngarten wrote on Twitter that he is healthy. However, he did not deny that he tested for the virus after returning to Brazil.

In the column of journalist Monica Bergamo, the newspaper said Wajngarten was tested for coronavirus at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo on Wednesday and the result would be ready on Thursday. She did not cite any sources.

In the photo he posted on Instagram, Wajngarten is standing next to Trump wearing a “Make Brazil great again” cap. Vice-President Mike Pence was next to Trump.

Visas suspended

In an advisory, the country’s health ministry said anyone with a “compelling reason” to travel to India could contact their nearest Indian mission. It also urged Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad.

Greece, Austria, Poland and Algeria report first casualties

Greece reported its first fatality from a coronavirus infection on Thursday, a 66-year-old man who had returned from a religious pilgrimage to Israel and Egypt at the end of February.

The deceased had underlying health issues, the health ministry said in a statement. There were 99 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Greece by late Wednesday.

Separately, passengers on board a ferry boat were quarantined as a precaution after a crew member said he felt unwell, a health ministry spokesman said. The crew member disembarked for further health checks.

The Athens News Agency reported there were 341 passengers and 77 crew on board the ferry which was currently docked at port on the island of Limnos.

Austria, Algeria and Poland also reported their first coronavirus casualties.

French Polynesia has first confirmed case in South Pacific

A member of France’s parliament representing French Polynesia is the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the South Pacific, officials said.

Maina Sage began feeling ill on Monday, two days after returning to the French pacific territory from France, the territory’s president Edouard Fritch said.

Sage was in self-isolation at her home and her symptoms were not considered serious, officials said.

The authorities did not say how she caught the virus. On February 26 she met with the French Culture Minister Franck Riester, who was later confirmed to have the disease.

There have been two confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US state of Hawaii, but none others reported on Pacific islands. New Zealand has had five confirmed cases, but no fatalities.

Another Iranian vice-president infected

Iran reported another jump in deaths, by 62 to 354 – behind only China and Italy.

Authorities announced that there were some 9,000 confirmed cases of the virus across Iran.

The Fars story also comes amid days of speculation about the health of Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri. Jahangiri has not been seen in pictures of recent top-level meetings, raising concerns about him. President Hassan Rowhani has 11 vice-presidents. Another, Massoumeh Ebtekar, earlier fell ill with the virus and is reportedly recovering.

Latin America steps up measures against spread

Latin American countries stepped up measures to slow the advance of the coronavirus, announcing a slew of restrictions on travellers from the worst-affected countries and shutting down major sports events.

Argentina, Colombia and Peru announced that travellers from China, Italy, Spain and France would be isolated on arrival.

El Salvador went further, with President Nayib Bukele announcing late Wednesday the Central American country would ban entry to all foreigners for a period of 21 days.

Argentina was the first country in Latin America to register a coronavirus-related death on Saturday, with Panama announcing another on Tuesday.

The continent still has only around 150 registered cases and two deaths.

Philippine president tested

Duterte, who at 74 is in a vulnerable age group for the virus, will be tested because he has been in regular contact with some of those officials.

“It is just prudent for us to take precautionary measures in compliance with the advice of our health officials,” said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, adding he too was to be tested.

Duterte’s health has been a recurring source of speculation in the Philippines since in 2016 he became the oldest person elected as the country’s president.

The news came as the Philippine Department of Health said on Wednesday that a second person had died, the first being a 44-year-old Chinese male from Wuhan who died in the Philippines on February 1. There are 49 confirmed cases in the country so far.

St Patrick’s Day Parade postponed

The New York City St Patrick’s Day Parade has been postponed for the first time in its 258-year history because of coronavirus concerns, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced.

The postponement of the March 17 parade adds to the roster of events and holidays upended around the world by the spreading infection. The New York parade honouring Irish heritage dates back longer than the United States and draws tens of thousands of marchers and throngs of spectators to Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

St Patrick’s Day parades in some other big cities, including Chicago, Boston and even the Irish capital of Dublin, were called off earlier.

Coronavirus conference cancelled because of coronavirus

So much for keeping business rolling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Council on Foreign Relations has cancelled a round table called “Doing Business Under Coronavirus” scheduled for Friday in New York due to the spread of the infection itself. CFR has also cancelled other in-person conferences that were scheduled from March 11 to April 3, including round tables in New York and Washington and national events around the US.

Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Bloomberg