MNI: CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Total global count..........>

MNI: CORONAVIRUS UPDATE:

Total global count continues to narrow in on 100,000, with South Korea, China,

Italy and Iran still seeing the largest rise in cases. The rise in Iran Friday

was particularly notable, with 1,234 new cases reported to a total of 4,747.

- In a positive development in China, the Chinese province of Hubei reported no

new cases outside of the city of Wuhan for the first time since the beginning of

the outbreak.

- Geopolitical tensions are now beginning to rise, after Japan installed travel

restrictions on visitors from South Korea and China, voiding close to 3mln

travel visas in the process. In response, the South Korean government decided to

consider  countermeasures based on the "principle of reciprocity", criticising

Japan's actions.

- Focus overnight rested on reports that New York's Dept of Health is keeping

tabs on close to 3,000 possible cases in self-quarantine across the city. The

outbreak in the US remains a focus given the difficulties around distribution of

testing kits, prompting many states to issue state of emergency warnings.