US President Donald Trump has signed into law a $100bn (£87bn) coronavirus relief package which includes:

• Free coronavirus testing for those who need it
• Paid family leave
• Sick pay

This is the second coronavirus relief bill that has been passed, following an earlier $8.3bn package earlier this month.

The White House is now reportedly negotiating a $1.3tn package - that would reportedly include up to $500bn in direct check payments to Americans.

Image source, Getty Images

India PM Narendra Modi has tweeted that he will address the nation about the country's preparedness to halt the coronavirus spread.

The address will start at 8pm local time (14:30GMT).

The country has reported at least 168 cases of coronavirus infection, and hundreds of people in different states are in quarantine facilities or in self isolation.

Schools and colleges are shut across the country and many states have banned large gatherings. But experts say that India needs to do more to stop the spread.

Mr Modi is likely to address those concerns in his speech.

Image source, Getty Images

North Korea has again extended the closure of kindergartens and schools across the country, said Yonhap news quoting the unification ministry.

It had last month said it would postpone the opening of schools - but did not give a specific date. It has again, not mentioned when exactly the new school year would restart.

Kindergartens and schools in North Korea are usually on vacation until mid-February.

North Korea denies there are any virus cases in the country, though experts have cast doubts on this.

Image source, get

Image source, Getty Images

The European Central Bank has launched an emergency €750bn ($820bn; £706bn) package to ease the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

It will buy government and company debt across the eurozone, including that of troubled Greece and Italy.

ECB boss Christine Lagarde tweeted "there are no limits" to the group's commitment to the euro.

In recent weeks central banks and governments around the world have announced major stimulus plans.

Read more here

Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido has lifted a state of emergency which was declared late last month

The past few weeks has seen the prefecture become a hotbed for the virus - with 154 confirmed infections in Hokkaido.

The governor of Hokkaido said it had been able to avoid "an explosive spread of the infection". It said it would now move on to "reducing risks of spread".

There are 914 cases nationwide.

Image source, Getty Images

Still have questions about this virus and how it spreads? Our 60-second video explainer tells you all you need to know.

Stock markets in Asia have seen a negative reaction this morning to a massive stimulus package announced by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Asian stocks slipped in Japan with its benchmark Nikkei 225 index down slightly. In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.8% while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng plummeted 4%.

One of the biggest drops was in South Korea as its Kospi index crashed 8.1% on Thursday morning.

Indonesia’s stock market saw trading halted for 30 minutes after its main index dropped 5%, triggering a “circuit breaker” that kicks in if shares fall by a certain amount.

On the currency markets, the Australian dollar dropped 4%.

The ECB has launched an emergency package of $820bn (£706bn) to ease the impact of the coronavirus.

Image source, NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF HEALTH

In New Zealand, authorities say they have recorded eight new cases overnight, bringing its total to 28.

All of the cases are from returned travellers. Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the nation was aiming to prevent community transmission occurring.

"At the moment we still don't have any evidence of wider community transmission in New Zealand," he told reporters on Thursday.

Authorities are testing a high school in Dunedin but say most of the 150 students have reported negative results so far.

New Zealand has moved swiftly to enact a travel ban and has urged its 80,000 citizens overseas to return home immediately.

Image source, Reuters

Wednesday was the first day that China didn't have a single domestic case. The country is where the outbreak started and overall, there have been more than 81,000 infections on the mainland.

While 3,245 have died, more than 70,000 have already recovered. Currently, there are just over 10,000 active infections.

Already for the past days China's focus has therefore been on stopping the virus from being brought back into the country. Most new cases had been travellers coming into China - on Wednesday, every single new case was thought to have come in from overseas.

At the peak of its outbreak, China had implemented rigorous quarantine measures and restrictions on movement to stop the spread.

The success of these measures and the declining number of new cases do not though mean the country is out of the woods. The population remains as vulnerable to new infections as it was before and authorities are therefore meticulously screening or quarantining anyone who comes in from abroad.

Read more here.

It's one of the most instinctual things to do - and also something you absolutely shouldn't be doing right now. Here's a video on why we love to touch our faces, and how we can overcome that urge.

Over in the US, the New York Stock Exchange will close its trading floor and change to electronic trading only, starting next Monday.

The move comes after several staff tested positive for the new coronavirus.

US stocks have been in turmoil for the past week and indexes have tumbled by about 30% from their recent highs. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has already suggested that trading hours should be cut down.

Image source, AFP

Iran will free some 10,000 more prisoners, including political cases, state media has reported.

The country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will pardon the cases and they’ll be released on Friday.

It's thought the move is due to fears the overcrowded conditions would make the prisons a hotbed for new virus clusters.

Already on Tuesday, the country had said it freed about 85,000 people from jail in response to the coronavirus crisis.

Iran is one of the worst-hit countries with more than 17,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,100 deaths.

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told state TV on Wednesday that many of the freed prisoners would not have to return to jail.

Image source, Getty Images

Qantas has become the latest major airline to cancel all international flights as it struggles during the virus pandemic.

The Australian airline will furlough most of its 30,000-strong workforce it announced on Thursday.

Qantas and its low-cost airline Jetstar will suspend all overseas flights from late March to at least the end of May.

"Demand has evaporated," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in a note to employees. "We have no work for most of our people. We have to make difficult decisions to guarantee the future of the national carrier."

Image source, Getty Images

Singapore has seen its biggest jump in new coronavirus cases. On Wednesday 47 new infections were reported, 33 of which authorities believe to have been imported.

Those are Singaporeans who had been travelling abroad or foreigners coming into the country. Basically anyone who has recently travelled outside of Singapore.

In a response to the sudden spike, the city state has tightened its borders even further. There's now advice to defer all travel abroad - previously that advice had only been for non-essential travel to be stopped.

Foreigners residing in the country on a work pass visa will have to get approval from authorities to return.

Singapore had its first coronavirus cases early on but then seemed to be able to stall the spread. It currently has 313 infections recorded, more than 100 of which have already recovered.

The coronavirus has now hit the shores of Fiji, its Minister for Health confirmed on Twitter.

Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete tweeted on Thursday that there had been a "single confirmed case... imported from a patient who had recently traveled abroad".

Laura Bicker
BBC News

South Korea has reported a slight increase in the number of people contracting coronavirus after clusters of infection across the country. One hundred and fifty two new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of reported cases in the country to 8,565.

South Korea has been praised for its response to the pandemic, which has involved tracing the infection, testing large amounts of people and isolating patients quickly.

The pace of daily new infections has slowed since the outbreak peaked earlier this month. The number of people contracting the virus had been in double digits for the last four days.

Health officials have warned there is no room for complacency and are once again urging the public to stay away from large gatherings including in churches, nursing homes, internet cafes and karaoke rooms.

Three people from the national fencing team have tested positive for coronavirus after returning from a competition in Hungary. All 26 athletes and coaches are now being tested.

US President Donald Trump has been criticised for calling the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" in a recent tweet. This is how he responded when reporters asked him why he used that phrase.

Image source, EPA

We've just ticked into the afternoon in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region.

In Australia, the number of cases continue to rise exponentially - now at over 600.

"It's going up quickly but it's being still mostly driven by international travel, which is starting to decrease very quickly," Deputy Medical Officer Dr Paul Kelly said in a national briefing.

He means most cases are from returned travellers, with recent confirmations mainly from Europe and North America. Australia has now imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all arrivals and instructed its citizens: "Do not travel overseas".

• The latest measures in Australia

Local transmissions account for around a sixth of cases - but this is growing. New South Wales, the worst-hit state with over 300 cases, has just reported they're investigating a potential outbreak at a university rugby event last weekend.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison had said he was looking forward to attending a rugby league match - before later pulling out.

Both China and South Korea have reported an increase in cases of coronavirus in the past day.

China said it had had no new domestic cases on Wednesday - which was a significant milestone in a country ravaged by the virus. But it did report 34 cases it said had been brought in by people coming from overseas.

South Korea reported 152 new cases on Wednesday - for four days, its numbers had been decreasing.

Singapore also reported 47 new cases on Wednesday, most of them traced to people who had come in from overseas.

The concern in these countries which had introduced strict control measures is that as their citizens follow instructions to come home, they are bringing cases in with them.