The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Australia has increased by two to 25 as the World Heath Organisation raised the risk of the spread of the disease to 'very high'.

A beautician who was diagnosed with coronavirus after she returned from Iran could have infected up to 40 people in Australia.

A woman, aged in her 60s, tested positive for coronavirus in NZ two days after arriving on Emirates flight EK450 from Iran, via Bali, last Wednesday.

A man who recently travelled to Iran has become the fifth person in NSW to be diagnosed with coronavirus.

The Channel 4 News presenter, 72, is sheltering himself for 14 days as per Department for Health guidelines after he visited coronavirus-hit Iran to cover elections.

Passengers on board a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Sydney are being told to self-isolate after a female passenger was diagnosed with coronavirus.

The woman, who is in her 30s, travelled to Victoria from Tehran via Kuala Lumpur and Bali. She arrived about 6am on Friday morning.

NSW Health announced three new coronavirus cases on Monday afternoon and confirmed a 53-year-old doctor from Sydney contracted the deadly virus.

Australians were on Monday told to swap handshakes for pats on the back and to be cautious about who they kiss as the number of cases climbed to 33.

The spread of the infection has started to slow down in China but has sped up in other parts of the world including South Korea, Iran and Italy, and scientists say it may never disappear completely.

More than 80,000 patients have been infected in China, with most cases recorded in Wuhan and the Hubei province. Almost 10,000 cases of the virus have been recorded in the rest of the world.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tells a press conference on Monday that there will be more cases of the coronavirus in New York City and community spread is 'inevitable'.

His adviser Mohammad Mirmohammadi died aged 71 in Tehran yesterday. 77 in the country have died from the virus and there are 2,336 cases. Khamenei was seen today wearing protective gloves.

A salon where a coronavirus-infected beautician treated up to 40 patients before testing positive for the disease has had to close its doors after a barrage of online abuse.

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos confirmed the case - the 10th in the state - on Wednesday morning.

Forcing people who may be infected with coronavirus to self-isolate is almost impossible, officials admitted today.

The woman, who arrived in Adelaide via Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, is currently at home but will be transferred to hospital soon.

A Macquarie University lecturer has tested positive for coronavirus after returning from Iran. The staff member became ill after returning from the western Asian country but had not been on campus.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said the outbreak had now surpassed the level of epidemic and warned the worst was still to come. Germany suffered 44 new cases overnight.

Tehran announced total infections rose to 2,922 and there were reports the country's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri (pictured) was the latest high-profile figure to contract the disease.

The Chinese government reported only 38 deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday compared to the 86 deaths reported from other countries including the US, Italy and South Korea.

The unverified video, which has been viewed over 836,000 times online, shows lines of seemingly full body bags lining the floors of the hospital.

Three things happened yesterday that made me think the sh*t with coronavirus just got very real.

New figures released from China indicate that of the more than 80,000 total cases in the country - 44,000 people have recovered and about 35,000 are currently with coronavirus,

The global march of the new virus triggered a vigorous appeal from the WHO today for governments to pull out 'all the stops' to slow the epidemic.

The aerial photographs, released by Colorado-based space technology firm Maxar, show normally bustling spots from Mecca to Beijing thinned of their usual crowds.

On March 1, President Trump vowed that anyone returning from 'high risk countries' would be screened both before they boarded planes and once they had returned to the US.

The number of people testing positive increased by more than 1,000 over the past 24 hours, reaching 5,823 on Saturday. Pictured: A firefighter disinfects a shopping centre in Tehran.

Iranian state TV today confirmed that 194 people have died from coronavirus and 6,566 are now infected in the Islamic Republic. IranAir has temporarily suspended all flights to Europe.

Six of China's imported cases were in Beijing, which is enforcing a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from countries deemed to be high-risk, including Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan.

The wealthy are arranging to flee to overseas homes or hide in underground bunkers as they attempt to self-isolate in countries which have avoided significant outbreaks of the virus.

Aerial photos appear to show a cemetery in the holy city of Qom being expanded after the coronavirus outbreak began there in mid-February.

A total of 3,176 people have died in mainland China, followed by 1,016 in Italy, and 514 in Iran - the three countries with the highest number of deaths.

Dan Suan, an immunologist at the Westmead Hospital in Sydney, shared a graph comparing Australia's coronavirus cases with other countries.

People who are believed to have contracted the disease are told to stay at home for 14 days, as well as those who have been in contact with anybody who had been in South Korea, China, Iran or Italy.

A record 113 deaths and 1,209 new cases were reported in Iran in just 24 hours, with a leading official admitting health facilities could be overwhelmed in the country.

General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association Steve Gillan this morning said that some prisoners across sites in the UK have already been forced to self-isolate.

Australians returning from overseas who refuse to self-isolate for 14 days could be fined $50,000 or jailed for a year for breaching a public health order.

The latest deaths bring the overall toll to 853 fatalities since February 19, when the government announced Iran's first two deaths from the COVID-19 disease.

Queensland police alone have conducted spot-checks on more than 1,850 individuals in coronavirus self-quarantine, as Victoria declares a state of emergency.

Despite threats of arrest and fines of up to $50,000 for breaches of public health orders most Australian police forces are not checking on people in self-isolation.

Iran has issued its most dire warning about coronavirus, suggesting 'millions' could die in the Islamic Republic if the public keeps ignoring health guidance.

Cases of the highly contagious virus now exceed 203,000, according to the US-based John Hopkins University. Infections have doubled since March 7, when the toll first hit six figures.

The Iran international, who has 50 caps for his country, grew up in poverty-stricken Qazvin and began his journey to professional football by playing for local teams in the area.

Ayatollah Khamenei, the ruler of Iran, has suggested that America created a new strain of the coronavirus with the intention of infecting Iranians.

Iran, the worst-hit Middle Eastern coronavirus country, diagnosed 24,811 cases of the virus - an increase of 1,792 in 24 hours - and confirmed 1,934 deaths, though that is likely an under-estimate.

Iran announced 143 new deaths from the virus today, raising the official toll from 1,934 to 2,077 - the fourth-highest in the world (pictured, health workers bury a virus victim in Tehran).

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary leave from prison in Tehran, Iran, in response to the Covid-19 epidemic, has been extended by two weeks and will now run until April 18.

The US has 245,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, which is twice as many as Spain, which surpassed Italy as the country with the second-highest number of cases at 117,000.

Social media star Sahar Tabar, 22, whose real name is Fatemeh Khishvand, from Tehran, shot to prominence after posting images of her eerily gaunt face.