Coronavirus Highlights: Italy reports 475 new virus deaths, highest one-day toll of any nation

Wall Street's main indexes slumped at the open on Wednesday as growing signs of coronavirus damage to corporate America overshadowed optimism about sweeping official moves to protect the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,048.69 points, or 4.94%, at the open to 20,188.69, while the S&P 500 opened lower by 92.69 points, or 3.66%, at 2,436.50. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 432.47 points, or 5.90%, to 6,902.32 at the opening bell.

The Sao Paulo stock exchange took a new plunge Wednesday, following world markets lower as the coronavirus pandemic continued to fuel fears of a deep global recession.

Despite the announcement of massive economic stimulus measures in Brazil, as well as the United States and Europe, Latin America's largest stock exchange was down 8.02 percent shortly after opening, hitting its lowest level since August 2017.

The Gurgaon administration on Tuesday advised all multinational companies, IT firms, industries and corporate offices here to allow their staff to work from home till March 31 amid coronavirus outbreak.

The advisory comes even as a 29-year-old woman, who works in an IT firm here, on Tuesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the first such case in the Millennium city.

The number of people infected by COVID-19 in Spain soared past 13,700 on Wednesday with the number of deaths rising to almost 600, government data showed.

"We have 13,716 cases in Spain, which is 2,538 more than yesterday, which implies an increase of 18 percent," said Fernando Simon, the health ministry's emergencies coordinator.

More than 850 million young people, or nearly half the world's student population, are barred from their school and university grounds because of the coronavirus pandemic, UNESCO said Wednesday.

Calling it an "unprecedented challenge" for education, UNESCO said schools had been closed in 102 countries, with partial closures in 11 more -- and there would be more closures.

The EU and China have decided to cancel their upcoming summit in Beijing because of the coronavirus epidemic, a spokeswoman for the bloc said on Wednesday.

The heads of the EU's main institutions along with the bloc's diplomatic chief had been due to travel to China -- where the pandemic began -- later this month to lay the groundwork for a second summit with all 27 European leaders in Germany in September.

The White House says it's postponing an upcoming state visit by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The visit, including a lavish, black-tie state dinner hosted by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, had been announced for April 21.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham cited the coronavirus pandemic in announcing the postponement on Wednesday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee: It is wrong to say that a case of coronavirus has been reported from Kolkata. It is the person who came from United Kingdom. I do not know how he was checked at the international airport.

Johns Hopkins University says the total number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus worldwide has surpassed 200,000.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering's online tally showed 201,436 cumulative cases by 11:13 GMT (6:13 a.m. EST) on Tuesday, with 82,032 listed as recovered.

It also recorded 8,006 deaths.

In a massive federal effort, President Donald Trump asked Congress to speed emergency checks to Americans, enlisted the military for MASH-like hospitals and implored ordinary people — particularly socially active millennials — to do their part by staying home to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

His proposed economic package alone could approach $1 trillion, a rescue initiative not seen since the Great Recession. Trump wants checks sent to the public within two weeks and is urging Congress to pass the eye-popping stimulus package in a matter of days.

Undetected cases of novel coronavirus, many of which did not show severe symptoms, were largely responsible for the rapid spread of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak in China, according to a study.

The research, published in the journal Science, found that 86 per cent of all coronavirus infections were undocumented prior to the January 23 travel shutdown in Wuhan.

CBI introduces thermal screening and hand sanitizers at its headquarters for the personnel, accused and witnesses who are summoned in different cases.

Coronavirus deaths in Europe now exceed Asia toll: AFP tally

Desperate travelers in cars and trucks choked European borders on Wednesday, creating traffic jams up to 17 miles long as they sought to get back home before borders slammed shut or deliver critical supplies to help nations cope with calamity of the quickly spreading coronavirus.

Hungary overnight opened its borders in phases, seeking to alleviate some of the pressure from eastern Europeans trying to return home. Bulgarian citizens were first allowed to cross the immigrant-phobic country in carefully controlled convoys, then Romanians had a turn.