Coronavirus Live updates: China's Hubei province reports 411 new coronavirus cases

Germany's trade outlook remains clouded by weaker global demand and the coronavirus epidemic adds another risk to exporters in Europe's largest economy, the finance ministry said on Friday. Germany's export-dependent economy stagnated in the fourth quarter as both industrial orders and output fell sharply in December, holding back overall growth in the wider euro zone. In its monthly report, the finance ministry cited weak demand from abroad as a reason for the muted trade outlook. "Possible economic effects of the coronavirus also pose a risk to foreign trade developments in the coming months," it added.

China reported an uptick in new cases of coronavirus on Friday although the rise in infections remained at its slowest pace since January, a downward trend which the World Health Organization (WHO) has called encouraging. The epidemic is set to be a major focus of discussion at a meeting on the weekend of finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said, amid rising risks to global growth. Japan and Singapore are on the brink of recession and South Korea on Friday said its exports to China slumped in the first 20 days of February as the outbreak upends global supply chains.

Singaporean lenders have provided a cautious outlook due to the coronavirus outbreak, after Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd (OCBC) reported earnings that beat estimates and United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB) posted a small profit growth. The epidemic, which has claimed over 2,100 lives in China and infected hundreds in dozens of other countries, has rattled financial markets and raised concerns about its impact on economic growth.

South Korea confirmed 52 more cases of novel coronavirus on Friday, taking its overall figure to 156 and making it the worst-infected country outside China. Altogether 39 of the new cases were linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu, the Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The U.S. government expects China to honor its commitments to buy more U.S. goods under a trade deal signed by the world's two largest economies in January despite the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. The U.S. Treasury official said it was too soon to make accurate forecasts for the impact of the virus on the global economy, but the base case scenario sees China's growth dropping in the first quarter and then rebounding sharply. The impact could be more significant if the outbreak worsens, said the official, who requested anonymity.

IATA on Thursday said it assesses carriers in the Asia Pacific to incur a revenue loss of $27.8 billion, while global carriers will lose $29.3 billion in 2020 as an impact of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak. The impact shows a potential 13% full-year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.

Two Australians evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship have tested positive for coronavirus, authorities said Friday, raising questions about Japan's policy of allowing evacuees from the ship to move freely after testing negative for the disease. "We have two people who are positive for the COVID-19 virus. Those two people have mild illness," said Dianne Stephens, acting chief health officer for the Northern Territories. Some 164 Australians aboard the Diamond Princess were cleared for transfer from the ship to quarantine in Australia's remote north.

Chinese province of Hubei reported 115 deaths from novel coronavirus through Thursday, bringing the death toll from the deadly outbreak in the province to 2,114, health officials reported on Friday. The province also reported a marginal rise in newly confirmed cases at 411 on Thursday, compared to 349 a day before. The figure raised the province's total infections to 62,442 since the outbreak, the health officials said, as reported by the South China Morning Post.