The number of people infected with the new coronavirus has topped 130,000 globally, including 4,900 deaths in 116 countries and territories, according to an AFP tally at 1800 GMT on Thursday.

Britain on Thursday said up to 10,000 people in the UK could be infected with the novel coronavirus, as it announced new measures to slow the spread of the outbreak.

Government chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said there were currently 590 confirmed cases but it was "much more likely we've got somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people infected".

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife announced they were self-isolating Thursday as she undergoes tests for the new coronavirus after returning from a speaking engagement with "mild flu-like symptoms."

Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau's symptoms have subsided since she recently got back from Britain, but as a precaution the prime minister "will spend the day in briefings, phone calls and virtual meetings from home," according to a statement.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's communications chief, who met Donald Trump last weekend at his Florida resort, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the government said Thursday.

A spike in cases in the Gulf Arab states helped push infections in the Middle East for the new coronavirus past 10,000 cases on Thursday, with most infected people either in Iran or having recently traveled there.

Iran has asked for an emergency $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to combat the outbreak there, which has killed more than 360 people and infected some 9,000 people in the Islamic Republic. Iran's Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati said Thursday he made the request last week in a letter to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. The international lender has said it stands ready to support countries through a Rapid Financial Instrument.

Algeria has registered its first death from the novel coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Thursday. 

The authorities announced Thursday that Rome's Ciampino airport would shut from Friday night, with a terminal closing at the city's main Fiumicino facility next week as airlines slash flights to Italy because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Iran said on Thursday that it has sought financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, which has not lent it money since 1962, to help it combat the novel coronavirus.

"Our central bank requested access" to the IMF's Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter, urging the fund's board to respond to the request "responsibly". 

Spain's equality minister has tested positive for coronavirus and has been quarantined with her partner, deputy prime minister and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, a government statement said Thursday.

"The minister (Irene Montero) is in a good condition and second deputy prime minister Pablo Iglesias is also in quarantine due to the situation," the statement said. 

Russia said Thursday it has sent test kits for the novel coronavirus to countries including Iran, North Korea and ex-Soviet states.