Key numbers in the battle to contain coronavirus

SINGAPORE - Countries are under lockdown, hospitals overwhelmed and supply chains disrupted as the new coronavirus continues its rapid spread across the globe three months since it first emerged.

Around the world, governments are grappling with the increased demand on healthcare and how to keep their economies running even as businesses are forced to shut and employees sent home to work.

We give you the stark figures in the battle to contain the deadly disease.

It took three months for the first 100,000 coronavirus cases to surface, but only 12 days for the next 100,000, according to the World Health Organisation. More than 247,000 people globally have now been infected by the disease and over 10,000 killed.

The coronavirus death toll in Italy reached 3,405, after another 427 people died in the last 24 hours, officials said on Thursday (March 19). The number of people who have died of Covid-19 in Italy has now overtaken that recorded in China, which stands at 3,248.

The outbreak first emerged in China in late December; it was found in Italy on Feb 21.

Iran on Thursday announced 149 new deaths in 24 hours from the coronavirus - one every 10 minutes. It was a daily record for Iran, where its overall death toll of 1,284 makes it one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.

Malaysia now has the most number of coronavirus cases in South-east Asia, with more than 1,000 people confirmed infected, as its 32 million-strong population adjusts to life under the country's restricted movement curbs. The movement control order introduced this week will be in place until March 31.

Myanmar and Laos have reported zero cases of coronavirus infection even as numbers surge across the region. The two countries - which share sizeable borders with China - say all patients suspected of being infected with Covid-19 have so far tested negative.

Three trillion US dollars (S$4.3 trillion) and counting. That's how much governments around the world are pledging to inject into their economies to help companies and ordinary people weather the coronavirus outbreak. Central banks have also been piling in with rate cuts and their own liquidity measures.

Hong Kong's flagship airline Cathay Pacific will slash passenger capacity by 96 per cent in April and May as the coronavirus shuts down travel across the world. Cathay Pacific will operate three flights per week to 12 destinations: London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tokyo, Taipei, New Delhi, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore and Sydney.