Italy has for the first time reported a slowdown in new cases.

On Monday, Italian authorities said there were 258 additional cases of the virus - a 16% increase on the previous day.

The head of Italy's Civil Protection Authority, Angelo Borrelli, said the figure was "comforting" after new cases spiked by 50% on Sunday.

Monday's increase brings the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,835. Of those, 52 have died and 149 have recovered.

Half of all confirmed coronavirus patients in the country have mild conditions and have been told to stay at home, according to Italian news agency Ansa, external.

Some 40% are in hospital and only 10% are in intensive care, Ansa reported.

Italy has the third highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, behind South Korea and China, where the illness originated in the city of Wuhan.

Italian authorities have responded with travel restrictions in the north of the country, with a number of towns in Lombardy in lockdown.

Ukraine has confirmed its first case of coronavirus.

Ihor Kuzin, acting head of the Health Ministry's public health centre said the man was hospitalised on Sunday in the city of Chernivtsi. He is in a stable condition.

He had travelled to Ukraine from Italy via Romania.

His wife has put herself in self-isolation at home.

Image source, Getty Images

As we mentioned earlier, Pope Francis has tested negative for coronavirus.

According to Il Messaggero, external, he started to have a fever and a sore throat and was swab tested for the virus.

The pope, 83, has been seen coughing and blowing his nose in recent appearances.

His schedule has been lightened and his Lent retreat was cancelled for the first time in his papacy.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told Reuters news agency he had no immediate comment on the report.

He was taken ill at a time when Italy is battling an outbreak of the virus in the north. On Monday, the death toll there jumped to 52 from 34 the day before.

Reality Check

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been trying to reassure people who are worried about losing money if they have to isolate themselves because of coronavirus.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "We've got a statutory sick pay system in this country and self-isolating for medical reasons if you're healthy counts as being sick in the legislation."

Statutory sick pay is paid by employers, so self-employed workers are not eligible, but agency workers are.

It is set at £94.25 a week, although of course employers may pay more if they want to.

To put that into context, average weekly earnings, external in December last year stood at £544 a week.

Image source, Reuters

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC coronavirus poses a “significant challenge” to the UK, as the government prepares to announce its plan for tackling the threat.

“It will be a significant challenge for the NHS, for social care, for schools, for many businesses. And the message today is very clear. It’s that right now we do not need to do many of the heavy things that we’re talking about in the plan but we’re also setting out this plan as transparently as we possibly can so people know the sorts of things that we might have to do in the future.”

He also addressed concerns that people who self-isolate might not be paid by their employers.

“If you self-isolate for medical reasons in order to keep others safe then that counts as being sick for sick pay purposes. So we have a robust sick pay system in this country, based in law. Of course we keep all of these things under review.”

Should the virus spread, the government will encourage people to travel less and work more from home as part of a “social distancing” strategy.

So far 39 people have tested positive in the UK.

Jailed British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is in good health, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary has said.

Gholamhossein Esmaili said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was assessed after her husband said she was showing symptoms of the coronavirus.

"She spoke with her family yesterday and told them that she is healthy," Mr Esmaili said in a news conference on Tuesday.

The official added that some "political and security prisoners" will be given leave from prison in the near future.

Iran's ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe will be granted leave "today or tomorrow to join her family in Tehran".

Last weekend, Mr Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard expressed concern that the coronavirus had spread to the prison where she is detained.

More than 1,500 cases of the new coronavirus have been confirmed in Iran, with at least 66 deaths.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has called on the UK government to urgently help Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, saying her life "hangs in the balance".

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker from London, has been detained for more than three years in Iran over spying allegations she denies.

The UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the government is currently not recommending that large-scale gatherings such as the London Marathon be cancelled - unless advised by Public Health England.

However, he said there was a "significant risk" of the virus becoming more widespread, meaning further measures might be necessary in future.

Plans for tackling the threat posed by the virus will be set out by UK PM Boris Johnson this morning.

Travellers from countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks who arrive in Beijing will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The Chinese capital joins Shanghai and Guangdong province in enforcing the quarantine.

The Chinese government is worried the virus might be imported back into the country. Numbers of newly infected in China are falling.

Although most virus deaths have been in China, Monday saw nine times more new infections outside China than in.

Japan's contract with the International Olympic Committee allows it to postpone the Tokyo games until the end of the year, Japan's Olympics minister was quoting as saying in a Reuters report.

"The contract calls for the games to be held within 2020. That could be interpreted as allowing a postponement," Seiko Hashimoto said in response to a question in parliament.

The Games are due to begin in July this year in the capital Tokyo.

Image source, Getty Images

This brings the country's death toll to 31. South Korea also reported 374 more cases of the virus this afternoon, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 5,186.

Kenya's Ministry of Health has warned that a WhatsApp audio message - which sounds like a government press conference announcing a case of coronavirus in the country - was in fact a simulation exercise.

It has asked the public not to cause alarm by sharing the leaked clip.

All five people had direct contact with an infected woman who travelled to Ecuador from Spain.

Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva

There are now over 30 cases in Switzerland, with one confirmed in the army this morning.

This could be very problematic - since both new recruits and returnees are doing their obligatory stints in the military, meaning thousands of young men are living in communal barracks across the country.

There is no hand sanitiser anywhere in the country. Pharmacies have been licensed to make their own, but the ingredients have apparently run out too.

And all Swiss football league matches have been cancelled until the end of March.

At the UN in Geneva, the spring session of the UN Human Rights Council is underway. It’s the most important session of the year, lasts four weeks, and is attended by government leaders and human rights activists from all over the world.

But on Monday, the UN announced that all side events will be cancelled, and only the main business of the council will continue.

UN special investigators have been advised to present their reports by video link and all but voting member states have been advised not to travel to Geneva.

Seven new virus cases have been reported in Malaysia, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 36, said the country's health ministry in a statement on Twitter.

The ministry added that all patients were in stable condition.

Image source, Getty Images

Police have used tear gas against locals trying to block a cruise ship from docking at the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

The Sun Princess has around 2,000 passengers and had its last port of call in Thailand.

The locals feared the passengers might bring the coronavirus to the small island - although there have been no suspected cases on the vessel.

Around 30 demonstrators threw stones and bottles at the police who responded with tear gas.

Last month, the Sun Princess was turned away from Madagascar because of virus fears, but it has docked at South Africa since then.

According to state media outlet the Global Times, another Chinese doctor has died from the virus.

Dr Mei Zhongming was reportedly a colleague of Dr Li Wenliang - who died in hospital from the virus weeks after he tried to issue the first warning about the outbreak.

Earlier, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced four flights to bring back 533 residents from Wuhan. She wore a mask during her news conference.

Image source, AFP / Getty

South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, has put the country into what he calls a state of war to tackle coronavirus.

This picture from a bus garage in Gwangju shows workers disinfecting their vehicles.

Image source, AFP / Getty

Two people in New Zealand who were suspected of having the virus have been tested - and both tests turned out negative.

The country has one confirmed case: a man who contracted the virus after travelling from Iran.

Around 30 people are currently undergoing testing.