Coronavirus live updates: China's death toll now up to 2,715; confirmed cases at 78,604

Two of the new patients, all Thai nationals, had returned from vacation in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido and came into contact with the third, said Sukhum Kanchanapimai, permanent secretary at the Thai health ministry.

Australia has had 23 cases of the coronavirus but has managed to head off widespread transmission. The country will close schools and cancel sporting events in the event of an uncontained coronavirus outbreak, Minister for Health Greg Hunt said.

Google, Facebook and other platforms are struggling to keep ahead of scammers, trolls, and others with ill intent who routinely use major tragedies or disasters as opportunities to swindle or manipulate people.

The worrying prospect that the Covid-19 outbreak could become the first truly disruptive pandemic of the globalisation era is renewing doubts over the stability of the world economy. With the death toll approaching 3,000, over 80,000 cases officially recorded and an outbreak in Italy now shutting down the richest chunk of its economy, some economists are beginning to wargame what an untethered outbreak could mean for global growth.

Kuwait announced on Wednesday there were two new coronavirus cases in the country, with the infections occurring among people returning from Iran. The new cases bring the total number to 11 in Kuwait, according to a statement by the health ministry.

Mainland China had 406 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the country's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Wednesday, down from 508 cases a day earlier. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 78,064. The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had reached 2,715 as of the end of Tuesday, up by 52 from the previous day, the commission said. All the new deaths were in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak. Hubei also reported 401 new cases on Feb. 25, down from 499 a day earlier.

Air Canada announced that it is extending its suspension of flights between Canada and the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai until April 10 due to the new coronavirus epidemic. Flights from Canada to the two cities had been temporarily suspended from January 30 to the end of February after the foreign ministry advised Canadians against non-essential travel to China in light of the virus's rapid spread there. The Air Canada website says the company and health authorities "will continue to monitor this evolving situation closely" and "will adjust its schedule as appropriate." The airline usually offers direct flights from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver to Beijing and Shanghai. And the company also extended the suspension of daily flights to Hong Kong from Toronto until April 30, citing "reduced market demand."

Hong Kong's banks face at least two quarters of worsening asset quality and slowing loan growth as the coronavirus outbreak hits trade and consumer banking, analysts and bankers said. Lenders in the Asian financial hub, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, are seeing a drop in demand for mortgages, credit card usage and corporate loans, bankers with knowledge of the matter said. Hong Kong banks have Asia's largest exposure to China, which accounted for 29.4% of banking system assets in the first half of last year, credit ratings agency Fitch says. Some of the banks have already started stress testing select parts of their China and Hong Kong businesses as fears grow of a pandemic of the flu-like virus that originated in China late last year.

South Korea has reported 169 more cases of the new coronavirus, mostly in the southeast city of Daegu and nearby areas, bringing its total number of infections to 1,146. South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 134 of the new cases were confirmed in Daegu, where the government has been mobilizing public health tools to contain the virus. Another 19 cases came from the neighboring North Gyeongsang Province towns. The country has also reported 11 fatalities from the virus, mostly at a hospital in the county of Cheongdo, near Daegu, where a slew of infections was detected at a mental ward.

US airlines and hotels are extending options for customers to rebook travel to a growing list of countries, including Italy, as coronavirus cases spiked outside of China and sparked fears of a global pandemic. The United States told Americans to begin preparing for the coronavirus to spread within the country as outbreaks in Iran, South Korea and Italy escalated, triggering concerns of a hit to global travel demand.

Hong Kong is expected to announce its largest budget deficit in at least a decade on Wednesday to cushion the shock of often-violent protests and the outbreak of a coronavirus on the recession-hit economy. Carrie Lam, the Chinese-ruled city's leader, has already proposed measures worth HK$30 billion ($3.85 billion) to help small and medium-sized companies and low-income households cope with the health crisis. Many companies in tourism and retailing are struggling to survive as a partial closure of the border reduces visitor arrivals to a trickle and keeps residents away from public areas.