LONDON — In Iran, a spike in coronavirus infections has prompted fears of a contagion throughout the Middle East. In Italy, one of Europe’s largest economies, officials are struggling frantically to prevent the epidemic from paralyzing the commercial center of Milan. And in New York, London, and Tokyo, financial markets plummeted on fears that the virus will cripple the global economy.

From Asia to Europe to North America, the lethal spread of the coronavirus accelerated on Monday, putting a heavy strain on a world already fractured by trade wars, populist politics and sectarian conflict.

An equal-opportunity epidemic, the virus is afflicting open and closed societies, autocracies and democracies, developed countries and war zones alike. That makes the task of containing it even more daunting.

The emergence of Italy, Iran, and South Korea as new hubs of the outbreak underscored the lack of a coordinated global strategy to combat the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing at least 2,600 deaths. The number of infected people in the United States reached 53 on Monday, up from 34 on Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.