The coronavirus disease (COVD-19) has infected nearly 80,000 people worldwide after it first emerged in China last December. The epidemic, which has killed more than 2,600, has caught a second wind with new outbreaks in Italy and South Korea.
At least 152 people in northern Italy have been diagnosed with coronavirus, making a new hotbed of infections in Europe.
Officials have imposed strict quarantines on at least 10 towns near Venice and Milan after a third person has died from the virus.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned the number of infected is expected to rise.
He said: “I was supposed by this explosion of cases. We will do everything we can to contain the contagion.”
A second outbreak outside of China was found in South Korea, with at least 763 infections reported since December last year.
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South Korea has reported seven coronavirus-related deaths so far, prompting authorities to raise the alert level.
President Moon Jae-in warned the country faces a “grave turning point” in the coming days.
He said: “The government will raise the alert level to the highest level according to experts’ recommendations.”
A recent surge in infections was found near the city of Daegu in North Gyeongsang Province.
Four new infections have also been confirmed in the UK on Sunday after Britons travelling on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship were taken into quarantine in The Wirral.
How to track the coronavirus epidemic live:
Despite having a low mortality rate, fears of an imminent pandemic are on the rise.
You can also hover over the circles for more information on the number of infected.
Alternatively, you can try out the coronavirus tracker created by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US.
The tracker updates daily with information collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies.
The team behind the tracker said: “Our primary data source is DXY, an online platform run by members of the Chinese medical community, which aggregates local media and government reports to provide COVID-19 cumulative case totals in near real-time at the province level in China and country-level otherwise.
“Every 15 minutes, the cumulative case counts are updated from DXY for all provinces in China and affected countries and regions.
“For countries and regions outside mainland China – including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan – we found DXY cumulative case counts to frequently lag other sources; we therefore manually update these case numbers throughout the day when new cases are identified.
“To identify new cases, we monitor various twitter feeds, online news services, and direct communication sent through the dashboard.”
The figures are then confirmed with official sources before the map is updated.