Coronavirus outbreak live updates: US says Russia behind huge coronavirus disinformation campaign

The postponement of training will not affect other preparations, and organisers are not considering cancelling the games, the statement said. Japan is facing growing questions about whether it is doing enough to stop the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in central China late last year and has spread to 24 other countries.

China's tech billionaire Jack Ma has pledged over $2 million to support the development of antiviral drugs to combat the new coronavirus which has killed 2,236 people in the country and infected more than 75,000 others

Lebanon confirmed its first coronavirus case on Friday, a 45-year-old woman who had arrived from Iran and was being quarantined in a Beirut hospital. Two other suspected cases were being followed and authorities were taking all necessary precautions in line with recommendations of the World Health Organization, health minister Hamad Hassan said.

Two more people died from the new coronavirus in Iran, infections nearly doubled in South Korea and clusters surfaced in Chinese prisons on Friday, rekindling concerns about an epidemic that has killed more than 2,200 people in China.

China on Friday denied any delay in allowing a special Indian flight to the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city to deliver medical supplies and evacuate remaining Indians from there, saying the concerned departments of both the countries were in touch to finalise the schedule.

Chinese suffering under harsh measures used to fight the deadly new coronavirus should recognise that similar methods have been deployed against China's minorities for years, an exiled Uighur rights activist said this week. Read more