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The rapid spread of the coronavirus increased fears of a pandemic on Friday, with six countries reporting their first cases and the World Health Organization (WHO) raising its global spread and impact risk alert to "very high".

Switzerland on Friday banned large events expected to draw more than 1,000 people in a drive to curb the new coronavirus epidemic, prompting cancellation of the Geneva car show and grumbling from businesses watching demand vanish.

Refugees in Turkey headed towards European frontiers on Friday after an official declared that borders had been thrown open, a response to the escalating war in Syria where 33 Turkish soldiers were killed by Russian-backed Syrian government troops.

Greta Thunberg denounced politicians and the media on Friday for ignoring a looming climate cataclysm, saying that they were failing her generation with their inaction in the face of a world on fire.

Temporary factory closures and layoffs have already begun to hit low wage workers across Asia as quarantines and travel restrictions from the new coronavirus disrupt supply chains linked to China.

Hopes the coronavirus would be contained to China vanished on Friday as infections spread rapidly around the world, countries started stockpiling medical equipment and investors took flight in expectation of a global recession.

India's economy expanded by 4.7% in the December quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, the slowest pace in more than six years, and analysts see the global impact of the coronavirus further stifling growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

India's economy expanded at its slowest pace in more than six years in the last three months of 2019, with analysts predicting further deceleration as the global coronavirus outbreak stifles growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

Former Vice President Joe Biden plans to stump hard in South Carolina on Friday, aiming to solidify support in the Southern state where a lead among black voters may give his campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination a needed boost.