The first case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in South America as the outbreak continues to spread around the world.

Health authorities in Brazil announced on Wednesday that a man had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Sao Paulo, meaning that the deadly infection has now reached every continent besides Antarctica.

No further details about the patient have been released, but Brazilian nationals were flown back from Wuhan - the epicentre of the virus in China - on a repatriation flight earlier this month.

Image: Italy's Lombardy region, which includes Milan, has been hit badly by coronavirus

The news came as the World Health Organisation warned the coronavirus is spreader faster outside mainland China than in the country.

For the first time, the number of new cases reported outside China has exceeded the number of new cases in China.


The crisis has deepened in Europe, with Italy confirming its twelfth death since a dramatic surge in the number of diagnoses there began last week.

Germany has admitted it was heading for a coronavirus epidemic and could no longer trace all cases. It has already confirmed around 20.

Greece, Georgia and North Macedonia have reported their first cases and France the first death of one of its own nationals, with a 60-year-old man confirmed to have died in Paris overnight.

He was the second coronavirus fatality in the country, after a Chinese national from Hubei province died last month, with health officials revealing that he had not travelled to any outbreak zones.

The Greece case was a woman who had recently travelled to northern Italy.

In the Georgia case, a man travelling from Iran, who crossed the border from neighbouring Azerbaijan, was taken to hospital from a border checkpoint.

In North Macedonia, a 50-year-old woman, who had visited northern Italy, tested positive for the virus after having flu-like symptoms.

Image: People with face masks sit outside a hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece

Image: Revellers wear masks at the Nice carnival in France

In other developments:

British tourists are in lockdown at a Tenerife hotel after confirmed cases among guests

at a Tenerife hotel after confirmed cases among guests Some UK hospitals and GP surgeries will now test flu patients for the coronavirus

Some schools have closed after students returned from Italy ski trips with "flu-like symptoms"

The government has banned the export of an HIV drug and anti-malaria infection treatment so that they can be tested as potential treatments for COVID-19

Middle East countries have closed borders with Iran after it confirmed more than 100 cases

South Korea has reported 1,261 cases including a US soldier

According to experts at Johns Hopkins, who are tracking the outbreak from the US, there are now 81,191 cases worldwide and 2,768 deaths.

The figures were updated at 12.33pm UK time on Wednesday.

Buses disinfected in Seoul

The spike in cases in Europe has prompted EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides to urge all member states to inform the bloc about its preparedness plans for the virus.

She said a consistent approach to tackling the outbreak would be important to containing its spread on the continent, however she warned against panic.

But World Health Organisation director Tedros Adhanom has admitted that the "sudden increase in cases" in two northern regions in Italy was "deeply concerning", as were the surges in Iran and South Korea.

Image: Many businesses in parts of northern Italy have shuttered their doors due to coronavirus

Image: Tourists wear protective masks in Venice after the city's carnival was cancelled due to COVID-19

In Italy at least 374 people have been infected - and the UK Foreign Office has begun advising against all but essential travel to the country's quarantined area - a dozen towns in the Lombardy and Veneto regions.

South Korea reported 115 new cases on Wednesday, taking its total to 1,261.

Iran has now confirmed 139 cases and 19 deaths, and Russia has announced that it will stop issuing visas to Iranian citizens from 28 February.

Russia is also suspending some flights to and from South Korea from 1 March.

Iranian minister with COVID-19 sweats on stage

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Japan confirmed its third coronavirus death on Wednesday - a man in his 80s in Tokyo.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for sports and cultural events to be scrapped or curtailed for two weeks in the battle to stem the virus, amid mounting concerns the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled.

Japan has 178 cases of the infection, separate from the 691 reported on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Dozens of Britons who spent two weeks isolated on board were brought back to the UK over the weekend, and will spend another two weeks in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.

Four passengers among the 30 Britons and two Irish citizens who flew back later tested positive.

Image: People wearing masks in the Shibuya district of Tokyo

Image: Japan has 170 confirmed cases

There have not yet been any new cases confirmed in the UK this week, but a number of schools up and down the country have closed or sent pupils home after they returned from ski trips in Italy.

Some businesses are also taking precautionary measures, with Chevron closing its Canary Wharf office in London to reduce employees' risk of exposure.

Companies worldwide are warning of financial hits because of the outbreak, as global stock market values continue to decline sharply as investors digest its implications.