Countries outside China are struggling to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which has surfaced in more than 30 nations, with major outbreaks happening in South Korea, Iran and Italy, fuelling fears of a global pandemic.

In Italy, which is the worst hit in Europe, more than 200 people have been infected and six people have died, prompting some areas to shut schools and ban public events.

South Korea, where eight have died, has raised its virus alert to the highest, "red", as the number of cases continues to spike, hitting 833 yesterday.

Iran - with the highest number of cases in the Middle East - has reported 12 deaths out of a total of about 60 cases, prompting Turkey to close its land border with Iran and halt incoming flights.

Meanwhile, countries such as Afghanistan, Bahrain and Kuwait have reported their first cases.

The World Health Organisation has warned that the outbreak remains an international emergency that is likely to spread further.

Stocks in the United States, Europe and Asia plunged yesterday, with sell-offs on mounting worries that the spread of the new coronavirus would derail growth, while safe havens like gold soared.

Just after the opening bell, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 28,015.53, down 3.4 per cent, or nearly 1,000 points. In Europe, most stock benchmarks were down 3 per cent or more, with shares on Milan's stock market suffering their largest intra-day decline since June 2016. South Korea bore the brunt of losses in Asia, with the Kospi index falling 3.9 per cent.

With the spike in infections beyond China, economists are looking at the possibility of ripple effects hitting economies in Asia and elsewhere more severely.

Worldwide, there are around 80,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with more than 77,000 in China, and 2,627 deaths, of which 2,592 are in China.

China, which reported 409 new infections yesterday and 150 new deaths, is trying to restart its economy after nearly a month of partial shutdowns.

The central and local governments have started to loosen infection control measures as factories began resuming operations last week. At least six provinces have lowered their emergency rating from the highest level.

Strict control measures, however, are still in place.

In Singapore, one new case was confirmed by the Health Ministry yesterday, taking the total to 90.