Global stocks record worst drop since 2008 recession as coronavirus spreads worldwide
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Iran reported eight new deaths from the coronavirus taking the death toll in the country to 34 with 143 cases detected in the last 24 hours.
Wall Street stocks crashed for a second day on Friday down nearly 1,000 points, diving 3.8 per cent in early trade sinking 11 per cent in the last two days as the coronavirus affected world markets.
Global stocks slumped to a new low on Friday to mark the largest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis.
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Iran on Friday reported eight new deaths from the coronavirus taking the death toll in the country to 34 with 143 cases detected in the last 24 hours.
Pakistan suspended all flights to Iran and closed land borders with its neighbour after coronavirus was confirmed in two cases.
In Italy, at least four people died of the virus taking the death toll to 21 in the country as the disease continued to spread worldwide.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Our epidemiologists have been monitoring these developments continuously. We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to 'very high' at the global level."
In Germany, at least 1,000 people were in quarantine in the district of Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia with schools shut and people asked to stay at home.
Health Minister Jens Spahn warned that Germany was "at the beginning of a coronavirus epidemic".
The Mexican government said it had detected the first cases of coronavirus infection in two men who had recently travelled to Italy, making it the second country in Latin America after Brazil.
As a result, Mexico's main stock index suffered one of its biggest falls in months, tumbling more than 4% in morning trading, and the currency peso fell by more than 1 per cent against the dollar.
In China where the virus originated 329 new cases were reported on Friday. The virus has now killed 2,856 people and infected more than 83,000 worldwide.