Coronavirus cases have risen in Italy and spread to the Middle...

Coronavirus cases have risen in Italy and spread to the Middle East even as China eased restrictions after no new infections were reported in Beijing and other cities.

Fears of a global pandemic have sent markets into a tailspin, with European equities markets suffering their biggest slump since mid-2016.

However, China's actions to lock down affected areas, especially in Wuhan, have probably prevented hundreds of thousands of cases, the head of the World Health Organisation delegation in China said.

"They're at a point now where the number of cured people coming out of hospitals each day is much more than the sick going in," Bruce Aylward said.