Iran on Wednesday reported 63 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest single-day toll in the three weeks since the Islamic republic announced the first deaths from the outbreak.

The outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran is one of the deadliest outside China, where the disease originated.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday that Rome is allocating an additional 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) to fight the novel coronavirus that has killed 631 people in Italy.

The head of the Lombardy region around Milan urged the Italian government Wednesday to shut down all non-essential businesses and transport for 15 days in the industrial north to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics this summer are going ahead "as scheduled," organizers insisted on Wednesday, while acknowledging they are "concerned" about the spread of the new coronavirus.

Spain banned all air traffic from Italy Tuesday, closed schools and blocked fans from football matches after being caught off-guard by a near tripling of coronavirus infections in less than 48 hours.

New York is deploying National Guard troops for the first time in the coronavirus crisis to help contain the spread of the disease from an infection-hit suburb of New York City, the state's governor said Tuesday.

Italy prepared Tuesday to allow families to suspend mortgage and some tax payments to help deal with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed 463 people and forced the government to restrict movement for its 60 million citizens.

Italy recorded 168 deaths Tuesday from the novel coronavirus, its highest single-day toll to date, pushing the number of fatalities outside China to more than 1,000.

Overall in Italy, 631 people have died from the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus and 10,149 have been infected in just over two weeks.

- More than 4,000 deaths - 

Since the novel coronavirus first emerged in late December 2019, more than 115,124 cases have been recorded in 105 countries and territories, killing 4,067 people, according to an AFP tally compiled at around 1200 GMT on Tuesday based on official sources. More than 15,000 cases have been counted in Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Tuesday that France was "just at the beginning" of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 25 people in the country and infected more than 1,400.