On Wednesday, the coronavirus outbreak reached a new milestone when the number of new cases confirmed in the world ex-China finally surpassed the number being confirmed on the mainland. Two days later, and we're almost at the point where the number of Thursday new cases confirmed by Iran was roughly half the total coming out of Wuhan.
As of Friday morning, the number of confirmed cases worldwide had passed 83,000, while the number of deaths topped 2,800.
Since yesterday, we we first noted this chart, the number of cases outside China has soared, particularly in South Korea and across Europe, as the number of new cases in mainland China (but outside Wuhan) dropped into the single digits.
Of course, China still had nearly two months of lead time over the rest of the world, and it has been home to the bulk of cases so far.
South Korea has confirmed an additional 571 cases of the novel coronavirus so far on Friday, bringing its total to 2,337, making it the largest outbreak outside of mainland China.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with more than 200 million people, reported the first case in Sub-Saharan Africa late Thursday night (ET). On Friday, Nigerian Health Minister Osagie Ehanire told reporters in Lagos that his government has contacted the airline on which the country's 'patient zero' traveled to try and trace people he came in contact with. Lagos Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi said the patient traveled to Nigeria on Turkish Airlines flight.
Perhaps the most shocking development overnight was the surge of new cases in Germany, confirming the dire warnings of health officials. Europe's largest economy has now quarantined about 1,000 people and affirmed "about 60" cases of coronavirus across the country.
Mexico's streak of being the only country in North America to have rebuffed the coronavirus is about to end: The country just reported its first preliminary positive test on Friday morning, according to Bloomberg.
In Iran, authorities have nearly caught up to a lawmaker's warning about 50 deaths in the city of Qom earlier this week: The Islamic Republic reported 143 new cases overnight, raising the countrywide total to 388. It also reported 8 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 34.
"Iran expects an upward trajectory in confirmed coronavirus cases in the next few days," the health minister said.
Singapore has become the latest country to crack down on the South Korean Christian cult at the center of that country's outbreak.
German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said on Friday that the central bank's official forecasts for 2020 growth were probably a little too optimistic, given the supply-side shock rocking Europe's export powerhouse. Authorities in Germany's Heinsberg, which is situated near the Dutch border, asked people who came into contact with a married couple with the disease to stay at home.
An update on the hotel in Tenerife where an Italian doctor was diagnosed with the virus and hundreds of guests have been quarantined: The first 9 guests of about 700 who have been isolated since Tuesday have been allowed to leave.
"The Markets Are Really Panicking": VIX Explodes, Markets Crash In Worst Week Since Lehman
Friday's market performance has traditionally been the weakest, even during the meltup phase ahead of the recent coronacrash, and as such it will probably not come as a surprise that today's overnight rout which followed the biggest 6-day correction from a peak for the S&P on record...
Futures on American gauges were all down at least 0.8%, a more modest drop than elsewhere in the world, but still suggesting U.S. stocks will retreat for a seventh straight session, cementing the worst week since the global financial crisis. Wall Street shares plunged 4.4% on Thursday alone, the largest fall since the August 2011 US downgrade. Futures pointed to a modest 1% drop later, but the S&P 500 has lost 12% since hitting a record high just nine days ago, putting it in so-called correction territory
"Investors are trying to price in the worst case scenario and the biggest risk is what happens now in the United States and other major countries outside of Asia," said SEI Investments Head of Asian Equities John Lau. "These are highly uncertainty times, no one really knows the answer and the markets are really panicking."
And as the accelerating global coronavirus panic sent world stock markets skidding again on Friday into a angry sea of red...
...compounding their worst crash since the 2008 global financial crisis and pushing the week’s wipeout in value terms to $5 trillion. MSCI’s all country world index, which tracks almost 50 countries, was down more than 1% ahead of U.S. trading and almost 10% for the week - the worst since October 2008.
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