The virus has killed more than 2,600 people and infected over 77,000 others in China. In the rest of the world, there have been more than 40 deaths and 2,700 cases.

In Europe, where Germany, France, and Spain were among the places with a growing caseload, an expanding cluster of more than 200 cases in northern Italy was eyed as a source for transmissions. In the Middle East, where cases increased in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq.

In Asia, where the crisis originated late last year in China, threats continued to emerge around the region, with South Korea battling a mass outbreak centered in the 2.5-million-people city of Daegu.

South Korea announced 284 new cases, largely in Daegu, bringing its total to 1,261. The South Korean military has also announced additional infections among its troops.

The US military, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, confirmed the first infection of an American soldier, a day after Americans said a military spouse also had contracted the illness.

In the United States, which has 57 cases, health authorities significantly escalated the level of threat being conveyed to the public.

Italy locks towns down 

Italy – which has reported 12 deaths and more than 370 cases – has locked down 11 towns. Italy recorded 52 new infections on Wednesday and Greece became the newest country to see a case of the virus.

A young man who returned to Croatia from Italy became the first case in the Balkans region.

A Brazilian government test has confirmed the first case of a fast-spreading new coronavirus in Latin America, a source said on Wednesday, after a Sao Paulo hospital flagged the possible infection of a 61-year-old who had visited Italy.

China reported 406 new cases and 52 more deaths. The country has a total of 78,604 cases of the virus and 2,715 fatalities.

In Germany, authorities stressed “sneezing etiquette,” while in the United States, doctors announced a clinical trial of a possible coronavirus treatment.

Though the virus pushed into countries both rich and poor, its arrival in places with little ability to detect, respond and contain it brought concern it could run rampant there and spread easily elsewhere.

WHO hails China’s measures

At the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Bruce Aylward, who headed an international expert mission to China, hailed measures taken there but told reporters that other nations were “simply not ready” for reining in the outbreak.

“You have to be ready to manage this at a larger scale… and it has to be done fast,” Aylward said.

Services in Singapore were broadcast online to keep people from crowded sanctuaries where germs could spread.

Major gatherings were eyed warily, with organizers scrambling to respond in the face of the epidemic.

Japan’s Olympic Games

Looming largest of all is the Olympic Games, whose opening ceremonies are scheduled for July 24 in Tokyo. A member of the International Olympic Committee, Richard Pound, sounded alarms a day earlier, saying the virus could force a cancellation of the games. The Japanese government, in turn, gave mixed signals, insisting they would go forward yet urging that sports events now be curtailed.

A fourth former passenger of the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship died in Japan, a Health Ministry official said.

Nearly 700 people from the quarantined ship have tested positive for the illness so far. Infections have also spiked in Japan, with at least 164 cases including one death.

And Indonesia said it evacuated 188 crew members from the World Dream cruise ship and planned to take them to remote Sebaru Island. The workers were released from quarantine in Hong Kong after finding no infections, but authorities mandated an additional observation period.

Worries over the ever-expanding economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis multiplied, with factories idled, trade routes are frozen and tourism crippled.