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Coronavirus pandemic
WorldUnited States & Canada

Coronavirus live updates: Tom Hanks tests positive, US advises against foreign travel, NBA suspends season

  • World Health Organisation declares the global coronavirus crisis a pandemic
  • The fallout from the outbreak hits Hollywood, sport, travel and politics

Reading Time:11 minutes
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Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson at this year’s Academy Awards. They have tested positive for the coronavirus. Photo: AFP
SCMP ReporterandAgencies
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday declared the global coronavirus crisis was now a pandemic as US stocks plunged into bear market territory and several American cities joined European counterparts in banning large gatherings.
After downplaying the threat of the virus for days, US President Donald Trump took the extraordinary step of announcing a suspension of all travel from Europe to the US in an effort to contain the coronavirus, calling the fast-spreading respiratory illness a “horrible” disease that requires an “aggressive” response. The US State Department also advised all US citizens to “reconsider travel abroad”.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “this is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus” but added that it “can be controlled” at a media briefing on Wednesday. The number of Covid-19 cases outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled in the past two weeks, according to the UN agency.

In China, the number of reported cases has been falling, with 15 new confirmed cases on Thursday. Of the 24 new cases announced the day before, five had arrived from Italy and one from the United States. Health authorities claimed the peak of the outbreak has passed, touting its epidemic control efforts as having “turned the tide”.

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South Korea on Thursday reported 114 new cases, as well as six more deaths, bringing the country’s total to 7,869, with 66 deaths.
Italy has reported more than 12,000 cases in the country and deaths jumped 31 per cent to 827 on Wednesday.
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Here are other developments:

NBA to suspend season

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